Wanted: Albino Idiot for Kidnapping
by Divinas Comedias
Summary: Our four heroes are taken away by a certain albino idiot and are forced to save the world. Phht how original... can they, inoccent girls, survive living in this time and fighting of Evil? Their dramatic and comical life is put on the line here...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

[Code: Albino Idiot for kidnapping

----------------------------------------------------

The library was big, everyone guessed that was the reason people liked it. It was lunchtime and instead of being outside freezing their butts off in the cold, our main friends had taken refuge in the farthest corner of the library. Their fearless leader; Ayame, was sitting next to her closest friend Kimni surfing the Internet; both mesmerized at something. Like always it was quiet. Out of nowhere a huge loud laugh cracked through the silence making the two girls lean sideways in order to look upon the origin of the noise. One of their friends was laughing hysterically for some reason or other. It wasn't an unusual sight so the two gave a mere glance at each other heaving explanatory sighs knowing they'd regret whatever was going through their friends head.

"Arith at it again?" Ayame spoke, throwing her blonde hair over her shoulder and away from her eyes giving the brunette in front of her an awkward glare with her blue eyes while Kimni just turned back to the monitor.

"Honestly, Arith, get over it."

Kimni always had her hair in a ponytail or a bun. Her brown eyes, hidden behind her glasses showed mock as she stared at Arith before turning back to the computer screen in front of her.

"Mustang is mine! Mustang is mine!" Arith's shrieks echoed as she giggled away ignoring the other two.

Aranell came along hearing the commotion. She had long, black, curly hair and was actually "Normal". She shook her head hearing Arith and put on her headphones as she continued on with her business slamming a few books on the table before busing herself in homework. Kimni pretended not to listen to Arith and thought she was plain mad, did she possibly think that would upset her? Unfortunately, even the grinning Ayame sitting beside her was provoking her from beside her knowing perfectly well Kimni was bothered by the piece of information Arith had blurted out.

"Hey Kimni…"

"Yes?"

"Guess what Mustang just did to me…."

Kimni lifted her gaze towards her, flame erupting from her eyes making Arith lift her hands in sweet surrender. "It wasn't my fault he started it. I just wanted to touch his guns."

At this Ayame interrupted, "I'm not exactly sure if it was his guns you were aiming at."

Kimni glared both at Arith and Ayame hurt. Aranell lifted her face from the biology book, "It doesn't matter, you've done it now Arith."

Kimni smiled sweetly and went on with her business while the others exchanged glances before laughing out loud mockingly. At that moment the bell to go to class rang and the four girls, to their great misfortune, made a big groan that echoed through the library. Ayame quickly turned, as the sound of murmuring voices somewhere behind them any book shelves.

"Oh crap! Librarians are coming to rampage us, to the books, I say!"

They all got up grabbing their belongings and ran into the shelves. The last one left was Kimni. She crammed everything in her all ready-crammed backpack while the librarians were getting closer! One more book…_I can hear them speaking_…was that the tardy bell…_oh god I hate FPF_! Without hesitating, she grabbed what she could and tossed it behind her back running into the shelves, but bumped into someone- hard. One minute she was falling the next a man was handing her the fallen books.

"Hey kid, be more careful next time."

Kimni adjusted her glasses still bewildered after her little clumsy moment; the last thing she saw was a guy. He had magnificently cute white hair, he was wearing a tailored red suit, black pants and somehow, _where those guns behind his back_? It was this sense of recognition that frightened her, as he turned the corner of the bookcases heading after the beckoning Ayame. The girl was in shock."Was that…was that Dante?" she muttered to herself actually stopping dead on her tracks thinking of running back there to take a closer look before she was dragged behind the bookcases.

"Kimni, are you insane? Can't you see you almost got caught?" Ayame whispered madly. They were in a shadowy part of the library, where only computer light from various monitors illuminated the area. For some reason, the lights had been turned off. Ayame had removed books in order to be able to look over the library making sure the heat was off. The librarians were looking around and then went back into the back of the library, leaving them alone in the empty library, for now. Ayame sighed deeply.

"Man, that was close. They are scary, once you think of it." Aranell muttered with a nod as she inspected their new surrounding. "Whoa…. what part of the library is this?"

Ayame, with her nerdy voice, lifted her index finger and stated, " This part of the library is completely out of bounds. They think if they turn off the lights kids won't come in here, "Weird" people will do "Weird" things."

Arith laughed quietly. "Weird…Huh. What's wrong Kimni…. you look like you saw a ghost."

Kimni turned to Arith; she had been rocking her self back and forth on the floor. " A demon…actually."

"Whatever dude…"

"No I did, I think….I think I saw Dante." Kimni blinked feeling the awkwardness of what she had just said- it made no sense.

"Sure buddy, why would he be here in Med High?" Arith questioned almost in a hiss as she shook her finger scolding in her direction making it seem that the mere thought of toying with something as important as that was not allowed.

"And Sci-Tech too." Protested Ayame laughing showing her school pride.

"Whatever," Arith shook her hand impatiently." But still…. what…"

"LIBRARIANS!" Ayame whispered grabbing a book [retending to read as Kimni and Arith did the same. Aranell twitched and pretended to be tying her shoes while the muffled footsteps, were heard approaching coming to stop on the other side of the bookcase. Arith was holding the book from the shelf not having have pulled it out yet. She started removing it slowly, a sliding noise really noticeable. But then, as she pulled, someone on the other hand grasped the book. Arith got banged into the bookcase and shrieked. The other person let go of the book, which was quite big, and let it slam on her face. Arith fell back in pain.

Kimni looked through the gap…the white hair! Ayame and Aranell had backed up into the shadow starring and making gestures for Kimni to follow. Kimni then bent low and covered Arith's mouth. She turned Arith's head under the bookcase. The last thing they saw was the black boots with the red coat. They stepped back as if surprised and walked to the right. Kimni got up and walked to the side. Arith followed, still holding the book.

"Oh my God Kimni… It's Dante." The guy, as if hearing this, turned his head slightly, His blue eyes starred at them both. He slowly shifted his hand to reveal his guns. Slightly, a red tint took over his eyes as his hair covered them. He turned the corner and was gone. Kimni and Arith starred. They were still there, Arith with tears in her eyes from the pain, Kimni had her mouth wide open. Ayame then came followed by Aranell. Aranell waved her hand in front of both their faces, still getting no response. Finally she grabbed Arith's book and smacked them on the back of their heads.

Ayame started laughing. Arith was now crying. Kimni sided with Arith screaming at Aranell. "What was that for? She's all ready hurt!" Aranell shook her head and frowned. "It was the only way to get your attention! And you're welcome!" Before they could do anything the book Aranell was holding started glowing. There was an odd silence as Aranell let it go. "Wasn't me!" She protested backing away. Kimni's Book started glowing as well and so did Ayame's. For a long time the dark was lit with an immense white light. They shielded themselves from it until it passed. There was an ominous glow of red, green, and blue. The books each glowed lightly, almost welcoming.

Ayame was the first to break the silence. "Err… someone please tell me this is normal behavior for a book." Aranell looked around spotting a clock. "Oh no, we're 30 minutes late for class!"

"Hello, the books?"

"We're in so much trouble!"

"Was I the only one to see the books glow?"

"Damn it Ayame! I know, but let's not get ahead of us. We…we should just leave them there!" Ayame frowned. "No, we should see what this devilish plot is! It seems the person which Kimni and Arith saw wanted the books too!" Aranell shook her head. "He was probably trying to scare us!" Ayame started protesting when a door was heard. All of them went through the books to see, the librarians were looking around. Arith gulped. "Great, now if we get caught, were not only going to get a tardy slip but also, and probably, get suspended!"

Kimni grred "Okay, anyone have a plan to get out of here?" There was a period where everyone looked at each other for a while then Arith jumped up grinning excitedly. "I know how I know how! Okay first, we can go through the whole backside. Then, we'll make a diversion, throw something to catch their attention. Then we'll run out, and go to school." They all couldn't say against this since she was always the one with the plans, most of them worked, others, well, you'll see. Kimni picked up the books. "A little help, they're heavy, plus my bags all ready heavy as it is." Arith went to her cry and so did Ayame. It seemed they had gotten the same ones they were with since the beginning. Aranell starred at the books reproachfully. "I don't like this idea of taking the books besides how are you going…."

"Aranell, shut up." Arith said frustrated. Aranell closed her mouth and looked down following them. They crept making sure they kept out of sight until they spotted the way out. They started walking when the alarm sounded. Arith turned alarmed but then realized her fault. Aranell started running beckoning them to follow. "Hurry up! They might thing it was a malfunction! You should have listened to me about the books!" They all ran out the doors and behind the side of the library. They waited to make sure the librarians wouldn't follow and when they thought it was okay they started walking towards the schools.

"Way to go Arith." Aranell said.

"Leave me alone. At least we're out!"

"Still, this is too much for one day. "Ayame said laughing once more as she was back to her happy cheery self.

--------------------

Authors Note:

Yeah, this chapter alone I'm afraid sucks but because of a good reason XD. I really didn't think this story was going to go past the fifth chapter so created it to be as blunt as possible with as little detail as possible since the group that reads it knows what its talking about. Anyway yeah- sad writing skillz for yah D:


	2. Chapter 2

Kimni, who had been trying to sort everything out, stopped. "Oh my god. Dante exists." They all stopped and sighed. Arith walked a bit farther speaking," This is bad is it?" Ayame looked at her confused. " Why would it be bad, this could be a virtual video game." Arith shook her head. "Don't you see, if one demon exists, there can be more…" A chill went up the 4 girl's spines. Kimni quickly broke in. "Look we'll talk about this tomorrow. We really need to get to class. Or at least try." Aranell finally spoke having had the worst chill. "But how? We can't just waltz in there and expect to not be asked where we were." There was a little argument until Arith shut them up. "Okay I got another plan. We can go to the nurse and say we had an "accident" that we felt ashamed so we called home so we could get a change."

"Wait what accident?" Ayame broke in.

"You know…. an accident" Arith hinted.

"Wait" Aranell said, pondering the thought. " It happens every month?"

Arith nodded smiling proudly. A groan came from them again. Then Kimni slapped Arith on her shoulder. "Haha, very funny Arith." She said sarcastically. Arith looked at her hurt. "What do you mean funny, it's our plan! It works!" Ayame pointed again all nerdily at Arith. "And what a coincidence four girls got it at the same time." Arith stopped and thought. "Okay…we needed a phone so err…Aranell take my phone. I had an accident and Kimni forgot to bring "one". Ayame you lent us your sweater and so you waited. Wait a minute you're from Sci-Tech."

Ayame laughed. "So what? Okay let's go with your plan, we should go to the Med-High nurse then." All the girls nodded and walked. They were barely passing the benches on Liberty Park (A small piece of island where they are actually dumb enough to call it a park) when the sky got dark in a small amount of time. They all stopped. A noise of flapping clothes was heard so they turned. Dante was walking towards them. His white hair was bellowing crazily behind him. His eyes were fiery and then he glowed all red going into devil trigger. Ayame and Aranell stared in amazement but Kimni and Arith knew better.

"Wait" Kimni whispered. "Why is he triggering at us?"

"Maybe he…" Dante starts running his demonic wings propelling him faster. He takes out his sword, growling. "HE WANTS TO KILL US!"

It was a mad dash as they all ran towards the Med-high doors. They could hear the electricity from his body getting closer. All of a sudden Mrs. Heater walked out and squinted her eyes at the running girls.

"MRS. HEATER! MRS. HEATER!" The chant echoed until they reached her. Arith felt a hot breath on her neck and had like a chill spasm, tripping. She bumped into Kimni then at Ayame. They went dragging through the payment all the way to Mrs. Heater's feet. Aranell was the only one saved, for she had jumped before she was thrown over.

"My goodness girls, are you all right?" Mrs. Heater spoke helping Ayame who was on top of the dog pile. "Yes ma'am." Ayame responded. Mrs. Heater looked behind them to see Dante. He was back to his form, his cute form, and lifted Kimni from Arith. Arith was twitching on the floor. Mrs. Heater went to Dante. "Why, I was about to go look for you."

"Well, I'm here ma'am."

"What's the meaning of these girls?"

"You know, I don't know." He turned angrily and serious. "Med- High and Sci- Tech are one of the best schools in Texas and tell me, what is the punishments for students that skip class in their own library?" Aranell interrupted. "We weren't skipping. We…" Kimni was starring at Dante unblinkily. "We had an accident." Dante turned to her warning her with his eyes. "And what was that?" Another groan was heard and finally Dante lifted Arith up, her face had long scratches on one side. The book had saved her face. Arith closed her right eye and covered the blood strips. "We had an accident which we can only tell Mrs. Heater."

"Why?" Dante protested.

"It's a girl thing." At this even Dante backed up a bit. He knew she had done it, the perfect plan for a girl. Mrs. Heater shook her head in understanding. "I see. So why in the library?"

Arith was still starring at Dante, behind her hand she was grinning proudly seeing his reaction. "It was the only place we could stay away and our parents to bring us clothes." Kimni, Ayame and Aranell were blushing like mad. Dante turned away, Kimni looked at him and saw he was blushing like mad and mouthing, " God damn that girl!" Mrs. Heater spoke "Well still, you should have asked for permission to stay or ran to the nurses office to get help when the bell rang so now follow me."

Kimni protested. "Wait, where are we going, Mrs.?"

Mrs. Heater spoke without turning around. "To the counselors office." Ayame started protesting that she was from Sci-Tech but Arith and Kimni stopped, looking at Dante. He threw the bad finger at Arith, Arith accidentally shouted. "Up yours half demon!" Mrs. Heater turned. "Arith, what did you say?" Arith turned and walked. "Nothing ma'am."

They were sent with Mrs. Heater protesting at them for making ridicule out of the school in front of a school director. All the girls there were pissed off. Ayame was trying to find a way to get away. She wanted to smash the book on top of her head and make rude gestures. Kimni was thinking like mad. Why is Dante after us? He was going to kill us, but why? Man, thank god Arith didn't say anything about man bras . . . Arith had tears in her eyes. Kimni whispered to her. "You okay?" Arith turned and nodded whispering back. "Yes…all that happened was getting scrapped by rock, nothing more." She said sarcastically. Kimni frowned. "I was trying to help!"

They reached the counselors and were asked to sit down at wait, for the principal was out for lunch. They sat, with the receptionist only. She was chewing her gum very annoyingly and had the radio on smacking the bubbles to the beat. All four girls starred at her in disgust. Aranell took out her headphones again and leaned back waiting. Kimni sat there trying to think of a lie. Maybe Arith's idea will work. It worked with Mrs. Heater, But why…why Dante. She hugged the book she held and it slowly glowed green. Arith gasped and threw her sweater on it. Aranell, Ayame, and Arith stared at Kimni.

"Are you mad? How did you do that?" Arith whispered. Kimni was confused as much as she was. Then, the phone rang. The receptionist answered. "Hello, Med-high, how can I help you…Oh hello Mr.…Oh yes…Dante, I'm sorry. " She fiddled with her hair and her voice town raised a bit, Kimni growled with rage. " How may I help you? … Oh yes, the four "brats" as you call them are here…Hmm…Now? Well, well…fine…yes be there in a minute." She hung up and made a little cheer in the air; opened a drawer and got a mirror. "I owe you all one, I am so going to date that most sexy looking man!" Kimni was actually hissing now as the lady left. Once the door was closed behind her.

"OH MY GOD, HOW COULD HE LIKE HER! SHE IS UGLY AS HELL!" Kimni was pacing around throwing her hands here and there. Arith was also mad. She was cursing under her breath. Ayame and Aranell, on the other hand, were the only ones with true sense. "He tried to kill us, even you said it Kimni!" Ayame shouted. " He's old. He's cute, but old!" Aranell echoed. A few minutes of arguing came until Aranell hushed everyone. "Wait look what's that outside the window?" They all turned to where she pointed.

"A bunny?"

"Dante…"

" A stray dog?"

"Dante!"

Arith ran towards the door but before she could do anything the window was shattered into billions of pieces. What was odd was that the shattering was never heard. You could see where he jumped into the air, the electric thing shattering the window. You could see the glass hitting everything, Arith had lifted her hands to cover her face and Dante had grabbed her face, covering her mouth. The other hand he pointed a gun at Kimni, Ayame and Aranell. There was a long silence where the only thing heard was the birds outside and the whimpering of Arith. Ayame broke the silence.

"I'm guessing the gun symbolizes for us not to speak? Or not to scream?" Dante pointed the gun at Ayame, which wiped the smile off. "Take your pick." He stated coldly. Aranell stepped forward. "Wait. Do you want the books? That's what you want?" Dante moved the gun to Aranell. Kimni finally got her wits and spoke. "Yeah, you want the books? We don't have anything you want and we haven't done anything to you!" Dante pointed the gun at Kimni. He raised it a bit, pointing it to her heart. "I want you."

With that, Kimni started blushing like mad. Ayame and Aranell gasped. Arith made a weird noise in her throat and started laughing under his glove. Dante turned from Kimni to the other girls, wondering why the reaction. "What's wrong? I want her, is that such a big deal?" Kimni made a weird noise like half giggle half cough. It was now quite noticeable Arith was laughing. Her bloody, scraped hands were shaking like mad. They had stopped trying to take Dante's hands off. Dante looked down at Arith. "What!"

"You want me?" Kimni spoke shyly.

"Yes. Wait, what do you mean. Not want you as in…." Dante went red, he knew his fault. Arith was now crying again, either in pain or laughter, it was hard to tell. "NO, I'm going to need all of you!" Ayame gasped. "Aren't you satisfied with just one?"

"I didn't mean that!"

" I am not interested in that stuff Dante." Aranell said laughing, so did Ayame. Kimni was blushing like mad. How could I be so stupid! Dante threw Arith disgusted. She fell on the broken shards of glass and screamed out in pain. Dante cursed grabbing her up covering her mouth. The sound of running heels was heard. Dante cursed and pointed his gun. "Move outside now! Take the books!" They did as he wanted and kept walking till they reached the expressway. Here he put away the gun and covered Arith's hands so as not to draw attention. "Move now!" Everyone moved, but it seemed Arith was having trouble. Every time she stepped with her right, the stain of blood on her jeans where her knees were supposed to be would grow. It wasn't a pretty sight and Arith was getting whiter then she all ready was. They were going through the side of the school, where the fields were. As time passed, they would turn back and see they were in the middle of nowhere. Aranell had stopped hearing her headphones and now starred angrily at Dante. After what seemed hours of walking and whimpers from Arith Aranell spoke. "So…. err…where are you taking us?"

"Somewhere safe."

"Safe from what?" Aranell protested. Dante growled but didn't turn. " Just shut it kids." Aranell fluttered angrily. "Were not kids!"

"Well, you sure act like one!" He said turning around and glaring at Aranell. Aranell just went red with anger and looked away. Dante straightened himself. "That's right. That's how I want to hear you, nice and quiet." He gave each a look, except Kimni. Kimni was actually waiting for him to look at her but he didn't! Kimni sighed sadly, which caught his attention. He turned to her and softened his expression. "You'll see in a while, when were away from prying eyes. I will explain why you must all be safe." Kimni blushed and nodded. Ayame saw this and smiled. "You're just happy Arith isn't normal." She laughed. Kimni glared. Aranell was the first one to gasp. "Where's Arith?"

Dante looked around, nothing but field and sky. Kimni gasped seeing this was true. Why, hadn't they heard her whimpering? "Wait, didn't we hear her whimper?" Ayame raised her hand regretfully. "That was I. I had a rock in my shoe." Dante grunted at this and smelled the air. His eyes widened. "One things for sure…she is not conscious." He started running behind them. "Stay here, got it!" They all nodded. Kimni was a bit ashamed. She knew her friend was probably dead but still, her mind stuck with the vision of Dante. How he looked at her, his eyes…those big dreamy eyes! Minutes later, Dante came back, he was carrying Arith in his arms, her head rolling back and forth from his chest to his arms.

The clothes in which her hands were covered was scarlet red; her jeans were too. He seemed worried and growled. "I think I went a little to hard on her." Ayame was petrified and shouted. "A little? She is suffering blood loss, dammit!" Dante didn't reply but kept walking faster. They had to run to keep up. Kimni could smell the blood; she didn't like it. She felt tears stream down her eyes. Behind her there were sniffs. She turned and saw Aranell and Ayame crying as well. Kimni looked down. They were walking in line behind Dante. She could see small specks of blood here and there. Isn't that blood a bit to exaggerated? She thought. She looked at Dante. He was looking down he seemed to be messing with something. She glared, better not be messing with Arith!


	3. Chapter 3

The day was almost gone. The sun was all ready going down and they were still jogging. Somehow they didn't feel tired. Up ahead they saw a Motel 6. Dante whistled. "That's where we'll stay." They all gasped. Ayame started once more. "Hey, I want to go home, my parents must be worried. We didn't go to school!" Dante said nothing but led the way. Across the street there was a Motel 8. It looked ominous. Dante gave a second thought. "Fine. We'll stay there." Big groans from the group erupted even from Arith. Dante gasped and shifted her. "Unless you want her to die." They all starred at him evilly, except Kimni. Kimni knew very well he wouldn't kill her. He was probably going to help her; she had a few Ideas on why the blood was being dripped.

They crossed the street to the Motel 8. They stood outside the lobby door and Dante turned giving Arith to Kimni and Ayame. " Keep her head elevated. And, try not to get too dirty." He walked inside the lobby giving Kimni a reassuring smile. Ayame noticed and poked her. "I see the connection between you and Dante." Aranell smirked behind them. She was reading a newspaper headline. " We're in ? How long did we walk! This is impossible!" All three girls went into thought.

Minutes later Dante appeared. He carried Arith and walked towards the rooms. "I checked out two rooms, one for me, the other for you all. When Arith get's better, we'll find transport and head of to DMC agency. The girls were practically running, Aranell was right behind Dante. "DMC?" Kimni quickly added impatiently. "Devil May Cry Agency." Aranell nodded understandably. Dante gave Kimni a quick nod. How does she know? he thought. There were two rooms, connected with one door inside. They entered what was going to be the girl's room. The beds seemed old, with a red bed sheet over them. The walls had flower patterns and the TV was the only electrical appliance, maybe with the laps, in the room. The girls dropped their bags and the books onto a desk. They all turned to Dante as he kicked the door to the other room open. They crept to the room silently and starred.

Arith looked pretty bad. Her face wasn't messed up, a scratch here and there, but that was it. Her hands were the worst. It was because of them that she was covered in blood. Kimni could see the glass shards intact in her skin when the light shimmered on them. Kimni found the words escape her lips before she even thought of saying them. "Will she be okay?" Her voice came out almost in a whimper. Aranell and Ayame nodded looking at Dante. He turned from fixing Arith on the bed and smiled weakly. "She's fainted because of the pain. Not blood loss. I'll patch her up she'll be ready in about 30 minutes." He went back to work. He starred at her hands for what seemed forever then sighed. " What happened to her finger?"

"The alien looking one?" Ayame stammered.

Dante turned a bit amused. "Yeah, is that what she calls it?"

Aranell, who had been the quietest spoke sadly. " She said it was the mark of being a descendant of E.T." She couldn't help but laugh at this. Dante smiled. " So it's always been like that." He examined it.

"Since she was 8 months old." Kimni added. There was a moment where Dante realized how good of friends these girls were. They weren't like any he knew. In fact, he knew why. But how could he tell them the truth? It really would mess up the lives of these girls, he thought. Firstly, they might be scared to death of him and for their friend. He sighed. At least that will keep them in line, until Arith get's better. He found himself laughing. The girls starred at him confused. He stood up and walked them to the door of the other room. "I'll stay with Arith. I want you all to go to sleep."

"No, we're staying with Arith."

"Yeah, I don't trust her "alone" and "unconscious" with a "guy" such as yourself!"

" Yeah, how do we know you won't hurt her… even more!"

This discussion kept going and going until Dante had had it. He grabbed them all pushed them into their room and slammed the door. Kimni quickly got up and tried messing with the door. A red shade appeared on it and a hand stretched to take her. Aranell pulled her back."That pervert, what is he going to do to her!" They all started pounding on the door. Silence was the only thing heard on the other side, until a huge light glow appeared under the door. The lamps went out for a few seconds then came back on. There was a minute of silence then a slap.

"You slimy git, what the hell do you think you're doing!" A loud growl was heard then a shriek. "I was helping you dammit!"

"So, being on me is helping?" Something smashed against a wall, probably broken. The door was being messed with. But something was being pinned to the door. The girls stepped away.

"Let me go, that hurts!" Arith's screams were muffled and the door vibrated with her tone, a loud slap and a grunt were heard. "Stay calm dammit, it's trying to heal! I was pinning you so this couldn't happen!"

"What couldn't happen!"

"Me running after you to get you calmed." His tone was actually pleading. The three girls held their breath, and then crying was heard.

"It hurts."

"I know…"

"How come this happens?"

"You'll find out… sooner or later." More silence. Dante sounded sad, almost regretful. Another light was seen from the crack under the door, then the door opened, slowly and noisily. Dante appeared and pulled his white hair from his face. He was actually sweating. A scratch overtook his right cheek. The girls moved even more back scared. "She's fine. Calm her down, I did my best." He moved back in leaving the door open. The girls ran into the room. It was trashed. A lamp was the only one with light. The other was across the room smashed into a wall. The white sheets were bloody; it seemed it's what they used to wipe the blood of Arith. Arith was sitting in a corner rocking herself, but something had changed. She wasn't the happy girl that took everything as a joke. Ayame and Aranell ran to her and threw themselves on their knees. "Arith…. Arith?" She slowly looked up and smiled. Kimni kneeled down and all three had a group hug. Dante smirked.

"Yeah smirk once more…you're dead." Arith whispered. Well, Kimni was wrong, she was back to her normal self. "What time is it?" Ayame checked her watch. " 10:30. Why?" Arith smiled. "Inuyasha is almost on!" Kimni laughed. "Arith, it's Friday, Inuyasha comes out on Saturdays, remember?" Arith went sad again. "Dammit…" They laughed. Dante stood up and went to the washbasin and cleaned his hands. The girls all helped Arith up and, as if thinking this for a while , cleared out her throat. Dante studied her through the mirror, then moved his gaze down. "No need to thank. It was my fault she got hurt." Kimni turned to her friends. Everyone except Arith knew what was happening. "Err. Sir, we need to talk." Dante stood up straight and turned. He took time to look at all of them, who seemed to be sitting in interrogation mode. "Ok…about what?"

" Well, firstly, they are more like questions then anything else. First, what do you want of us?" Her voice was breaking, either of nervousness or embarrassment, one couldn't tell. Dante sat on the chair, pulling it casually from under the desk. "Maybe I should speak." He motioned her to sit on the bed. She did, hesitating. Dante scratched his head and stretched. "Firstly, I apologize for attacking you, getting you into trouble," He counted them off on his fingers. " Hurting your friend." nods at Arith.

"It was an honor…not." Arith said frowning, soothing her now-fixed hands. Dante grinned and nodded his head, his hair moved along with him. "Anyway, and probably scarring you to death." Ayame looked down. "Scarring us to death is an understatement." Dante shrugged once more "I really didn't mean it. I thought you were my enemies. Since, you were looking for the exact same thing I was." Kimni shuffled her sitting position and raised her hand timidly. Dante smiled at her gently and spoke quietly. " In human years I'm about 4 to 5 years older than you. Maybe more. Anyway, I'm not considered an elder yet. Talk freely." Kimni blushed and Dante smirked. She stood up and bit her nails as she spoke. " What do you mean, your enemies, what were very looking for?" Dante thought, choosing his words carefully.

"My enemies are three in number. Kids…or so they look, around your age, maybe older. Anyway, they are the guardians of past, present, and future. It is hard to say where they are and where they hide. Many demons, such as myself, have tried defeating them. All have failed in vain. It seems the prophecies are true. They are invincible, until I found you four. Each one of you is a guardian of a certain thing. You four will be the ones to determine the fate of those three." Ayame broke in. "What do you mean? What do the books have anything to do with it?" Dante sighed and spoke. "Bring your book Ayame." Ayame hesitated, picking up the one that had glowed blue in her hands. The moment she touched it, it glowed softly.

The other girls were holding their breath. She turned to Dante, her blue eyes showing uncertainty. Dante smiled and beckoned her. "It will be okay, nothing will happen." Ayame nodded and walked to him starring down at him. He laughed a bit and jerked for her to sit on the floor. She did. "This book represents the element of Water. It was said that long ago many Guardians protected the world. This book was said to belong to that of the Guardian of Water. It was they who sealed up the great shadow that threatened to over run the world back then. Later you'll hear the story, sooner or later. As I was saying…open it." Ayame made a weird noise in her throat and looked up at him horrified. He nodded and starred at her sternly. Ayame sighed and opened it. At once, blue light emitted from it. The once blank pages soon were covered with writings not known by them. The lettering seemed as if someone was dropping water drops and writing away. All the girls ran next to her on the floor and starred. Arith was the first one to speak.

"I don't understand it. It's like old-school writing."

"What are you talking about? It's plain old English." Ayame retorted shocked. Aranell and Kimni started protesting against what Ayame said. Dante, seeming as if he was enjoying the bickering of the girls, stopped them.

"Listen. It's natural for only Ayame to understand…"

"Why?" Arith broke in rapidly. Dante starred at her menacingly. "Sorry, go on." Arith added quickly.

"The reason why Ayame understands it is because she is the Guardian of the Element of Water." Ayame shrieked with delight. "Really?" Dante smiled nodding. "All of you have an element. So…go."

The other girls looked at each other and ran to the books. Kimni got there first and touched one book. It didn't glow. She threw it at Aranell. Aranell caught it and it still didn't glow. She threw it at Arith. It hit her straight in the chest and she fell back hard. Aranell screamed her apologies but at the same time, the book glowed red. It was rather strange, since it steamed at her touch. Arith whistled admiringly. Dante stood up and extended her hand to help her. "Great, the Element of Fire." Arith took his hand and spoke while he lifted her. "Element of Fire? Bad-ass!" She jumped on the bed opening it, her face being covered by flickering red light. Kimni and Aranell starred at the last book. Aranell nodded at Kimni to go for it. She did. Instantly it glowed green, and a light smell of foliage temporarily filled the room. She gasped happily and whispered. "Element of Earth…" Behind her someone spoke, rather too close to her. "That's right."

Kimni jumped and looked behind her. Dante moved back and blushed. He then turned to Aranell who was looking rather disappointed. Dante placed his hand on her shoulder. " I'm sorry. Your book was the one I failed to get. It was because of my failure of getting it that I thought you was working for the trio. If it makes you feel better, you are the Guardian of the Winds." Aranell smiled and nodded. "It's okay. We'll get it later, right?" Dante nodded assuring. "Soon, real soon." Dante let go and clapped his hands getting their attention.

"Now, ladies. I am sorry for all that I caused, and that some day you will forgive me." The girls turned to look at each other and all spoke.

"Yeah, we forgive you."

"You're the main man Dante!"

"No hard feelings."

"Arith, get over yourself."

Laughing overtook this, and then Dante spoke. "Thank you, all of you. Especially Arith. ("YOU THE MAIN MAN, MAN!" Arith screamed.) I am looking forward to being with you all; I am sure you have a little more knowledge of how important our mission is. Lastly, I want to inform you that right after my speech, you had best to get your stuff and get in the car outside. Don't worry, no more walking. We'll be driving for Austin. There, we will board an airplane that will lead us to New Jersey… to my place." Aranell spoke shyly. "Your place?" Both Arith and Kimni gasped excitedly. "Devil May Cry Agency!" Dante smirked and turned, obviously hiding the blushes. He threw his hands, signaling for them to hurry.


	4. Chapter 4

A great bustle came from them as they all got their schoolbooks and bags together. They filed out of the room and saw a car waiting for them outside. There was a 'whooing' from the girls and Dante appeared. "Nice car, huh?" He then went and opened the passenger seat. "Who's going to ride as my passenger?"

At once, all the girls pushed Kimni off the sidewalk and off to where Dante stood. Kimni almost fell from the force of all three girls. They all giggled madly, especially Arith. Dante turned slightly, making his hair hide his grin. Arith mouthed silently at Kimni "Either you sit there, or I take my chances." Kimni frowned and then entered the passenger seat. Dante gave her a hidden wink then closed the door. He opened the back door and waited for the others to go in. Ayame went in first, followed by Arith, (Whom Dante looked at her, as if wanting to say something but didn't), then Aranell. The door was closed behind them and a big fuss of how Dante was being a gentleman broke out. In a few minutes, they had completely forgotten he wasn't in the car and looked around expecting to see him running away. Before they knew it, all that was heard was the door closing and a huge sigh.

"How did you do that?" Aranell protested. Dante turned slightly. "Demons have a knack for speed. You'll all be fast too…of course, not as good as me." Ayame and Arith both laughed. Aranell gave a small sigh. Kimni nodded her head, not wanting to laugh.

"Come on Dante. You're getting old! You'll be on a wheel chair before us…." Arith spoke mockingly. Ayame laughed. "Yeah, the only weapon you'll have will be a walking stick!" Arith high-fived Ayame and starred at Dante. Dante just chuckled. "We'll see…we'll see." He drove off.

During the drive, Ayame and Aranell were having a discussion of what element could win: water or fire. Arith was sitting between them, reading her book. Once in a while she would say something, adding a greater conflict to Ayame's and Aranell's discussion. Kimni had tried to read but she couldn't. She felt like a premonition sort of thing. She couldn't understand what it meant and it didn't leave her alone. Dante was driving, his eyes once in a while turning to the rear mirror to roll his eyes at the girls. Seldom he would dart at Kimni, but only because he felt her starring at him. He would just nod slightly or smile. Kimni was about to read once more when Dante finally spoke.

"All right, before we head on to the long endless road, I need to stop to buy ammo. Anyone want anything?" The girls hushed then Aranell spoke shyly, "You mean, if we want a weapon?" Dante looked at her through the rear mirror. "Well, I could buy you all something, but I prefer to wait till were at my place. I have more variety and stuff you all will like." Aranell nodded then Arith spoke. "Can we stop to buy provisions?" Kimni turned and laughed at Arith.

"Provisions?" Dante turned to Kimni and gave her the look of "Let's-see-what-she-says-" sort of look. "What provisions, Arith?" Arith quickly started. "We need food…batteries for Aranell's cd player, a cd, since there are parts where the radio sucks…" Dante broke in "I got the cds covered… All we need is the food." Aranell broke in. "And the batteries?" Dante turned to her. "Check." Ayame lifted her index finger. "We shall get food then!" Dante laughed at how serious she said it. "Fine."

Dante parked the car in front of a gun shop and across the street of a convenience store. He then, with amazing speed, appeared opening the door to all girls. They all got out and followed him to the door of the shop. Arith then stopped and checked her pockets.

"Ok I got a five…Ayame?"

"$2.50 with some change."

"I only got a dollar"

"I got three."

"Here."

They all turned to Dante. He was getting something from his back pocket. "I got a 20." He handed it to Arith. "Go buy stuff. I don't care but more then 5 things. Got it?"

Arith starred at him. "No, it's okay, we can buy it." She extended her hand giving back the cash. Dante took her hand and moved it to her. "It's all right, this whole thing will be on me. All right?" He smiled then beckoned Aranell and Kimni. "You two come with me, Ayame, you can go with Arith." Ayame saluted laughing. The trio watched as Arith and Ayame crossed the street. A car never slowed down while they were passing, so Arith flicked the driver of. Kimni and Aranell frowned and Dante snorted. "Arith, Arith, good luck marring her."

Kimni laughed. "She's not that bad." Dante looked at her and shrugged. "I'll get used to her mood swings." He opened the door, letting them walk in. Kimni tutted slightly, the change from bright morning sunshine to almost complete darkness. The air smelled of some thing, oatmeal. Dante flinched, maybe at the smell and whispered. "Look around if you want. I won't take long." He walked to the register, leaving Kimni and Aranell alone. They looked at each other and just walked aimlessly. They went through a row full of automatic handguns. Kimni starred at them frowning. "If Arith were here, she would have known what these guns are for." Aranell turned to her, having been observing an ancient revolver. "What do you mean?" Kimni shrugged and said nothing.

It was funny, how friends understand each other. Barely freshmen year and all ready 4 girls were in the adventure of a lifetime. Firstly Dante? Dante wasn't supposed to exist, but here he was. Kimni looked through the barracks and saw Dante talking to the cashier. Could this be a bad thing? The feeling she felt, that something was going to happen came back to her. Aranell noticed Kimni's change of mood. She was about to say something when Dante called them over. They walked, Aranell still looking worriedly at Kimni, towards Dante. When they reached him, he held them by their hand.

"Here you go, my two beautiful wives."

Aranell and Kimni both coughed and said nothing. The cashier smiled widely. "You have two young, and beautiful wives!" He started fiddling with a bag, placing all the ammo boxes. "Any children?"

"Not yet." Dante said, holding on a bit tighter, making them not say anything. Aranell turned sideways and Kimni was just plain shocked. Dante then spoke again "So how much brother?" He was referring to the Mormon, who was still starring at the two girls. He looked at Dante and gave him the bag. "It is on me, dearest friend!" Dante grinned and took the bag. "Why thank you. I must go now, we were in a bit of a hurry." With the last farewells, Dante dragged Aranell and Kimni to the door. Once outside both started screaming at him.

"Are you mad? Who do you think you are?"

"Wives? Indeed!"

"I'm sorry, All right? I didn't want to pay for all the crap!" Dante protested. Both girls hushed, having never heard him scream. Kimni frowned and turned to the car. "You're a jerk. If only Arith were here…"

"What about me?" Arith appeared behind them all with Ayame. They were carrying bags with junk food. Kimni and Aranell hushed. "Nothing." Arith quickly turned to Dante starring at him suspiciously. "I got my eye on you." She then entered the car. Everyone was back in and ready. Dante entered and was in a bad mood, but with a sad expression.

Hours passed and the sun was already setting in the horizon. The backseat was rowdy again.

"Water can freeze and turn into ice!"

"Fire can melt ice!"

"Not if it's very cold!" Ayame and Aranell were screaming. Kimni was banging her head slightly on the window while reading. Arith was reading as well. Dante seemed to be lost in his thoughts. Finally, after a few more minutes of fighting a gasp interrupted everyone.

"Hey guys! Check out my new trick!" Everyone turned to her. Dante and Kimni were looking at Arith through the rear mirror. Arith lifted her face grinning. She closed her book and started snapping her fingers. At first nothing was happening, then sparks started emitting. Ayame and Aranell moved sideways both surprised. Arith was in full concentration, her eyes sparking as well. Finally, a red flame sprouted on her index finger. She grinned proudly. "I can create fire! But I still can't manipulate it." Dante whistled surprised.

"Does it burn you?"

"No, it tickles" Arith laughed.

"Well, well, we got progress, way to go." Arith cheered, fiddling with the flame. Aranell starred at her then spoke. "I know a trick too." Arith and Ayame turned to her. Arith laughed. "How, you don't even have a book?" Aranell grinned. "That's how advanced I am. Observe." She changed position on the chair and slowly closed her eyes. Arith still had the fireball and starred at Kimni. Finally she opened her eyes and blew at the flame. It flickered and was gone. Everything was silent for a while as Arith started crying. "See I told you I could." Laughs. Ayame followed suite and laughed. Kimni started laughing but then stopped, seeing that Dante was angry. Aranell started apologizing to Arith, and Arith started threatening her to forget it. It went on like this for half an hour until everyone cooled down and only the sniffing of Arith was heard.

Kimni had stopped reading her book and sighed heavily. She was becoming carsick. She looked over Dante's head and stared at the setting sun. The sun was being washed with yellow, red and then, on the top, a purplish color. It was beautiful. Kimni didn't notice Dante had turned and he starred at Kimni for a while. She noticed his mouth move but heard nothing.

"Kimni. Can you hear me?"

"Hum?"

"I said if you wanted to see the sun set." Kimni was taken aback. She had to think on what he was telling her. She felt herself go red, Dante smiled. He slowly started putting the car into park on the side of the street. All the girls starred at Dante until he spoke, slowly placing his head on the head holder. " Who wants to see the sunset?" All the girls starred from one another until Arith started giggling. "A demon like you has a heart for a sunset?" Dante starred at her hurt. "Arith, you make me sound like a monster."

"Correction, a demon." Dante said nothing but starred at her through the mirror. After a moment he opened the door and got out. "Suite yourselves, come on Kimni." At once, the girls all snapped their heads towards Kimni. Kimni smiled slightly and followed him out of the car.

Dante stood beside the car stretching and popping every bone in his body, by the sound of it. Kimni flinched a bit and laughed. This caught his attention and grinned. "I would rather go by foot. I get there faster and get a complete workout." He spoke calmly, still grinning. Kimni raised a brow and placed her hands behind her back. "How is that possible?" Dante chuckled a bit and threw himself on the car's hood, leaning on the window shield. " I already run fast, so when I want to pick up my pace, I Devil Trigger, and goodbye Texas!" He yawned and placed his hands over his stomach and turned to her, his hair ruffled. "Won't you see it?" He spoke.

" See what?"

"The sunset."

"Oh…yes it's beautiful."

"No silly. Over here." He smirked beckoning her. Kimni hesitated and then walked, getting on the hood and laid there a few feet away from him. She looked directly across the sky and saw the sun setting. Half of it was all ready touching the earth. The clouds had a pretty tint of pink and orange, as if someone had just passed a brush lazily and called it a cloud. The wind rustled gently, making it perfect and peaceful. The car shook from under both and Dante started laughing. "I guess I locked it." He smirked. A few seconds later, a door burst open and Aranell was thrown out of the car. Arith followed her and landed beside her. Ayame was the smart one. She hadn't been pulling on the door to open, she was the one that saw it locked, thus opened it at the precise moment they pushed on it. They all dusted themselves off and walked to the front of the car.

"Excellent idea, Dante! They would never have gotten out!" Ayame cheered. Aranell starred at Ayame and frowned. "Why didn't you tell us? I didn't see it locked. It was up!" Ayame hushed and then giggled showing the peace sign. Arith and Aranell yelled at her.

"So you locked it, you freak!"

" I was all scuuurrreeedd!"

"HEY!"

All the girls turned to the interruption of Dante. He yawned. "Keep it hushed, will ya?" The others starred at them and then Arith walked to the hood and jumped on it. "Yeah people…shut up." Aranell joined in beside her and then Ayame. It was a crowded hood and they were all next to each other. Kimni was in fear of falling off. Dante saw this and laughed. "So…who wants to bet that Kimni will fall?"

"If she falls, that puts you in a pickle." Arith said poking his ribs with her E.T. finger. He gasped and laughed out loud. Kimni had to grab on to Dante in order not to fall but it was too late. She fell and Dante with her. It all went in slow motion, not even Dante cut the fall as they hit the floor. Actually Kimni did, she was pinned by Dante on top of her. He growled and blushed seeing the dazed look of Kimni. Arith peered over the edge. "Oh whoops…they're busy guys…. we should just let them be…." She yawned. Both Kimni and Dante starred at each other and both realized their torment. He got up and helped Kimni up. Ayame and Aranell were grinning at them. Arith was what seemed to be asleep. Her eyes were closed and her hands over her chest, like a dead Snow White. They got back up and Dante made sure to poke Arith in the ribs, but nothing happened. He poked again, amazed.

"Yes Dante, I know I'm not ticklish. Stop it." Dante laid back down…plotting some way or other to get back at her. When he didn't notice his hand was still holding Kimni's. For a long time, while the sunset, no one spoke, until darkness took over him or her. Dante coughed and cleared his throat. "Well, back in the car then. In a few hours we'll reach the city…then we'll board the plane and head home." There was a small murmuring but the thing most noticeable was a groan. They all stopped, even Dante. It was all dark and it was barely possible to see the others.

"What was that?" Aranell whispered.

"Hush." Dante whispered back.

"Where's Arith?" Ayame's voice came from nearby Aranell. Dante growled. His eyesight was keen in the dark and he turned angrily and now a smack was heard. Dante was pushed back down onto the hood. The girls shrieked then laughter came from Dante. The other girls held their breaths until Dante spoke, almost in a caring way.

"Wake up Arith. Wake up. We're leaving." It seemed that Arith was holding on to one of his arms and had fallen asleep like that. Her cursing was heard and laughter was the only thing heard as they entered the car. Dante started the car and at once, the back seat fell asleep. Arith was leaning back…the book in her hand and Aranell was resting her head on the side of the window. Ayame was doing the same thing as Aranell but on the opposite side. Kimni was sleeping in the front, her head resting on the seatbelt strand. Behind the two in the front, Ayame woke up abruptly. She saw around them the lights of a city. She marveled at the neon lights and laughed a bit to herself. Dante heard her and spoke quietly. "This is Austin." Ayame nodded and kept looking around." How did we get here this fast?" Dante smirked and made sure no one else was awake, "Magic." Ayame laughed quietly and protested. "No wonder Arith doesn't have patience towards you." He grinned. "Yep, that's why she loves me."

"Indeed." Ayame spoke back and said nothing through the remainder of the drive to the airport. She saw him park and kept the car air on. "We should get some sleep, the plane leaves at 7:30 in the morning. It's barely 1." He yawned and leaned back sleeping. Ayame did the same and for once, the inside of the car was hushed.

It was 6:35 and all 5 people were sitting in the airport's McDonalds. They were eating breakfast and chattering happily, as if it were a normal school day. Arith had her hand slightly raised and jerking it at Ayame.

"But Ayame, how is that possible, a shotgun is a very special weapon. The mechanism in it is what makes the bullet do what it does." Arith spoke interestedly. Dante interrupted. "The only way to say something irrelevant to that, you have to know how a bullet of a shotgun works." He eyed Arith questioning. Arith frowned and shook her head. "Dante, Dante. I am the weapon expert. All I need to work on is my aiming. But still, I can't stand to shoot something, or anyone." Dante heard this and smiled. "I was like that in the beginning. Don't worry. When you're almost killed, you'll be using a sniper on a guy who is like 3 inches away from you."

Arith laughed at this and so did Dante. The other girls were eating and starring. The watch on Aranell wrist ticked that it was 7. Dante noticed and finished his coke. "Come on. Time to board the plane." They all nodded and followed his lead. It was pretty odd, a bunch of girls with Dante was, shall I say, it stood out. They went happily. Arith was talking with Aranell and Kimni was looking around the airport. Ayame was finishing her juice. "Isn't it funny, our parents haven't come looking for us, or no signs of us missing have occurred?" Dante actually twitched at this and all the girls saw it.

"Dante are you hiding something from us?" Kimni said.

"Of course not, I would never lie to the girls I adore!" what he said wasn't disturbing, it was the tone in which he said it…. filled with uncertainness. They all heard it but didn't protest against it. They finally reached to where the lady who took the tickets was. She gave a slight glance at Dante, she gave him the eye, and Dante felt disgusted. Kimni was the only one to see it and smiled. He walked, waiting for them to pass. Once they did, they all walked to the plane. Most of it was filled but many empty seats could be seen.

Dante checked the tickets. "Okay, Arith here, Kimni, Ayame, Aranell…and of course, me. Our seats are listed on the top corner. So we should find them." He started walking. Arith stopped starring at Ayame and Aranell's number. "Wait a minute I'm 13 and they are 29 and 30? What numbers are you?" Kimni and Dante stopped and read. "24," Kimni spoke. "25," Dante spoke too and cursed. "Sorry Arith, I should have asked." Arith said nothing but shrugged sadly. "It's okay, I'll see you guys in a while then. Hey Aranell." Aranell turned to her; Ayame had started looking for the seats.

"Yeah?"

"Can you lend me your cd player, please?" Aranell nodded and passed it to her from her pocket. Arith took it happily and walked off to the front of the plane. She put it on and finally found the number 13. A man with white hair and wearing a suite similar to Dante, but blue, was sitting there. He was counting something, which looked pretty suspicious, considering it was glowing and never seen before. Arith cleared her throat and tapped his shoulder sharply. "Excuse me." He looked up, his eyes fit perfectly with his pale skin. She hesitated then spoke. "May I pass?" The man straightened up and let her pass. He put what he was fidgeting with away and sighed angrily. Arith turned to the window, having gotten window seat and sighed as well. Another boring ride… let's see if I fall asleep. She thought fixing herself in a comfortable position. She turned on her headphones falling into a daydream.

Ayame and Aranell were in their seats now, and Aranell had gotten window seat. Ayame had her book out and was reading. Aranell stared at it and sighed. Ayame looked up at her. "What's wrong?" Aranell said nothing but shrugged. Ayame knew perfectly well what was happening with Aranell. "You know we'll get your book. I'm pretty sure you'll catch up fast. I mean, look at Arith!" She laughed. Aranell nodded and peered into the book of Ayame. "Do you mind reading it out loud for me to hear?"

Ayame nodded and started reading; the blue letters glowed as she spoke it. " In the year of the new age, Guardians were entrusted to certain things to keep the balance on earth. If the balance were broken, the Guardians would do their best to even every thing out. Among them was the Guardian of the Element of Water. This book will instruct she who has been blessed with such a gift…" Aranell broke in. "Wait, so there are more guardians, not just us?" Ayame looked at Aranell and shrugged. She kept going, reading for what seemed hours.

The last duo was in the middle to the left side. Kimni was addressed by Dante to take the window seat and Kimni was more than glad to. At the moment she was reading her book, Dante was sitting smugly beside her. His head was tilted sideways. Kimni found herself starring at him, instead of the book. Dante arched his back and popped it; he turned his head towards Kimni and their eyes met. He smiled, his eyes going sleepily droopy. Kimni started giggling and Dante looked at her puzzled. "What?" Kimni said nothing but shook her head. Dante frowned and shrugged "Damn flight assistant never brought the peanuts."

With this, Kimni started laughing loudly, not to loudly but still. Dante started hushing her, laughing too. "Damn Kimni, shut up." he whispered and Kimni hushed, breathing hard from the laughing. The flight attendant came to them and starred at Dante, giving him the eye. Kimni saw this and immediately stopped smiling. Dante starred at the woman and frowned. "Yeah peanuts... uh hum...and some water for my girl here." He grabbed Kimni's hand and kissed it gently, not looking a Kimni. The flight attendant nodded, and a slight disappointment could be seen in her stare. She walked away and Dante shook his head.

"I hate girls like that... they never get to know a guy..."

"Whores?" Kimni interrupted. Dante turned to her and nodded. "Big ones." A few seconds later, the attendant came back and gave Kimni one last glare before she left. Kimni wanted to ask Dante something and she finally got the courage.

"Why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

" Tell her I was 'your girl'?"

Dante had a face of concentration, and still hadn't turned to her. Finally he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he faced her. "Why not?"

Kimni was taken aback, not knowing what to say. Maybe he just said that to get something free, but wait a minute, wouldn't he rather tell the flight attendant she was cute? It was as if Dante could read her thoughts and laughed. "Come off it Kimni. Why not?"

"I don't understand."

"Yeah you do. You'll figure it out sooner or later." He then leaned on Kimni's shoulder, falling asleep. His hair brushed slightly over her cheek. Kimni was about to protest but Dante's hand covered her lips. He then chuckled whispering.

"You know you like it."

Kimni stayed hushed the rest of the flight with Dante asleep on her shoulder.

In the front of the plane, tension was growing. Arith was having a hard time ignoring the tingling sensation on the back of her head, like if someone was starring. Her headphones were blasting and it seemed she was trying to make it louder in order to rid herself of the awkward feeling. Finally she couldn't stand it and turned swiftly. It seemed the man who was sitting next to her was starring at her, not bothering to act discrete. The moment Arith turned, he squinted his eyes, as if trying to read her. Well, there wasn't much to read. Arith was pissed and she wasn't the type to hide it.

"Can I help you?"

"No"

"Then why the hell, do you keep starring?" Arith whispered furiously. She turned off the CD player and gave him the look like, "YOU-DID-IT-NOW-BOY" The man merely chuckled and rolled his blue eyes; those magnificent blue eyes!

"Is it a rule, for one not to stare? Because if it is, I must have failed to read it on the guidelines." He said, almost mockingly. He tapped his gloved hands together and smirked. Arith rolled her eyes. "Is that the best comeback you can think of? Ever heard of 'invading-ones- privacy'?" He turned to her and starred at her with a questioning look. "Invading your privacy, me? I say, what a smart kid you are." He smirked turning away. Arith shifted so that her whole body was facing him.

"Kid, me? I don't think so. I seem more mature then you! I don't stare at strangers!"

The guy grinned, his young face smirking once more. "You weren't starring? Honestly, do you think I'm blind? The window reflects what's behind you. If you would just stare at your reflection and quit being nosy..."

"ME NOSY!" Arith screamed this outloud. The man backed away and turned embarassed. It seemed noone cared much and Arith turned furiously to the window.

"Men are so immature..."

"Excuse me?" The man turned aroun oncemore. "Did you say I'm immature? May I remind you that it is you who is screaming like a lunatic." He said this, edging himself closer, his eyes starring menacingly down at her. Arith backed up but starred at him furiously.

"Why the hell would I be starring at you, old man?"

"Old man?"

"Look at your hair, I think that is a bad style there. Only one person looks good with it white." Arith was about to reach for his hair to pull it but he grabbed her hand first. She gasped and tried jerking it away. He had a tight grasp but his eyes seemed to mock her. "Do you realize how bad I can hurt you? Right here, right now?" Arith started laughing disgusted. "If you mean in raping me, you're a perverted old man!" With this, the guy let her go and starred at her while shaking his head. "What are you thinking!" Arith said nothing but sat back smugly.

"Yep...I am the queen of comebacks."

"Please, it's not the comebacks your good at, you know where to gross people out." Arith turned to him and shook her head. "And there you go, fighting you're more mature than me." He growled and his eyes flashed red for a moment. Arith saw this and gasped. He starred at her menacingly. "I'm warning you, kid, your testing my patience. You wouldn't like them to find your dead body in the back, now would you?"

It was Arith's turn to grin. She flicked him off and a fireball appeared on her finger.

"To hell with you freak. Oh yeah, and interpret my silence."

The guy starred at the fire ball, amazed and impressed, his lip curled into a smile, something he hadn't done before. "Impressive...you..."

At that moment a flight intendent came walking towards them and he quickly reached to her finger. A bit of smoke emitted from the openings between his fingers and Arith starred at him terrified.

"Yes, would any of you like something?" The flight attendant said, starring at them both, of course giving Vergil the eye. Vergil's face contorted in disgust as he turned back to the girl.

"Yes, two water bottles. For me, and my admirable companion here."

"I don't want anything from you." Arith said coldly.

The flight attendant sighed. "Honey moon? Yeah, we get a lot of fights up here."

Arith and Vergil gave each other a glance and shivered.

"No way! I am not married with this idiot!"

" Why would I marry? My knowledge over exceeds any woman or being in this world." He protested.

" What the hell does being smart have to do with anything?"

Before they could go on, the flight attendant hushed them and left. Minutes later in between the silence and fuming she came back with the water bottles. "Here, for the happy couple."

"We're not a couple." They both growled at the same time. With this, they turned to look at each other. Then they both broke out.

"I'm only 14, that chick is stupid."

"She should have payed more attention we have no rings... And you're not so young, believe me." He said this nodding. Arith took the water bottle forgetting she wasn't going to drink it. Vergil noticed she was about to drink it but she stopped, sitting down so as to face the front. He took this chance to talk.

"So, didn't catch your name."

"I never gave it."

"Then what is it?"

Arith turned to him angrily again and exhaled angrily "What makes you think I'll tell you?"

"I'm Vergil. Vergil Sparda."

Arith coughed at this, having swallowed her own saliva when she gasped. Vergil grinned, knowing perfectly well who and what she was now.

"You see, we're not that different after all...Guardian."

Arith said nothing but starred. She grabbed the water bottle and drank, turning away furiously. There was no point in fighting with someone who knew what you were and was probably some one like it...but Arith had a good idea who this Vergil was...for he did look a lot like Dante, but a bit cuter.

"Thought you weren't going to drink what I had given to you?" Vergil's voice came from behind her. Arith turned to him, seeing his smirking face, almost egging her on to protest, but Arith did nothing but mutter.

"Fuck off."

"I'd love too..."He turned around and closed his eyes, the grin still on his face. Arith looked back out the window muttering to herself...

"One of these days Mister Sparda...One of these days..."


	5. Chapter 5

Ayame and Aranell were standing in the middle of a large crowd hoping to spot, even a glimpse, of either Dante and Kimni or Arith. Ayame, who was taller then Aranell, was on tiptoe looking over the heads of the multitude of people in the airport lobby. They had finally arrived at the New Jersey international Airport and had accidently got lost and separated from the group. Aranell groaned from behind Ayame, making her turn to look at her.

"Back in the valley, airports aren't this big!"

Ayame shrugged and started scooping again. Should she start screaming for her mommy? Or Daddy? She found herself laughing at the dirty thought she just got.

"What are you laughing about, there's nothing funny about this, we're lost!" Aranell shouted, pulling a lock of her curly hair to show her anger. Ayame turned to her and grinned, knowing what she was going to say would upset Aranell even more.

"All you have to do is answer a very important question. Then, you can cry for the answer and people will take us to him…or her."

Aranell looked at her unconvinced. "What?"

"Who's your daddy?"

"What?"

"I said…who's your d-a-d-d-…"

"Dante! There he is!"

Aranell started running towards Dante and Ayame ran after her, giggling to herself. She raised her head over the crowd and saw the white haired guy they were running to, but something was different. The man's hair, as Ayame put it, was spiked and even his wardrobe was different. Did Dante change in the flight? Ayame wondered. Aranell finally got to the man and poked his arm, she sighed angrily and started protesting, "Next time, warn us or something that your going to go one way and also next time…"

The man turned around, it wasn't Dante. Even though they had the same face, same eyes, same color of hair, there was something different, something evil about this guy. He growled down at Aranell and spoke, barely unclenching his teeth.

"Watch who you're talking to, midget."

"What did you call me!" Aranell backed up and eyed him. Ayame grabbed her by her shoulder and whispered, "He looks like Dante…" making it loud enough for the man to hear. The man growled and started stepping forward when someone smacked him in the back of the head with an empty water bottle.

"Down Vergil, don't make me take out my whip, boy."

Arith was throwing the water bottle in a trashcan (RECYCLE PEOPLE!) and was smirking happily. Vergil turned around and saw her, making a face of pure detest.

"So, now you're stocking me? Am I that irresistible?" It was his time to smirk at the disgusted face coming from Arith. She walked passed him to Ayame and Aranell, who were starring at both Vergil and Arith's 'friendship'. Arith stopped in front of them and raised and eyebrow at them, "You people okay?" But it seemed they didn't respond. She cursed and turned back to Vergil who was still standing there like an idiot starring at the girls. "What the hell are you waiting for, a hug, some applause maybe? We don't want you here go away!" She screamed making hand gestures and everything, someone behind her though, held her gently from her shoulders.

"Well, well, if it isn't my big brother Vergil."

Arith looked up and saw Dante standing behind her. His eyes showed pure hatred towards Vergil and Arith kept quiet for fear of him ripping her apart. Kimni poked Arith making her know she was there and Arith was grateful, considering the other girls were just starring absentmindedly. Vergil closed his eyes and spoke, crossing his arms over his chest, making him look superior. "I was expecting to see you here. But what I didn't expect was this…" He looked around at the girls, which all of them frowned. Dante chuckled and let go of Arith, walking around her to stand in front of the girls. "Well, I've been a busy man. And you? How are your co-workers doing?"

"For the thousandth time, Dante, I am not in league with the trio. I don't need them to kill you so, why even bother?" Vergil rolled his eyes and spoke frustrated. He looked around at the people walking past them, with their normal lives…waiting for the right moment to attack. "If you don't stop lying, that nose of yours is going to grow so large, someone's going to have to cut it off, on second thought, I see it too big all ready, allow me!" He lunged towards Vergil, but Vergil moved faster then Dante. He leaned back and then took out his sword swinging it to strike Dante as he slid to a stop. Vergil had his blade over his head and then thrust it down ward.

"Die…"

"NO!"

All the girls shouted at the same time and they glowed for a brief second. This caught Vergil's attention and gave Dante the chance to get back up, which he did. He jumped up and kicked Vergil off him then took out his own sword and, ignoring the glowing light, shanked his brother quickly then backed away to the girls. He starred at them shocked and they starred back. Arith then fell to the floor…

"It's hot… I don't like it…is it because of all these people?" She looked up at the crowd gathering around them. Aranell fell next to her and was holding her chest. I can't breathe…everything hurts…it's like I'm being crushed by an invisible force.!" Ayame fell next and she was the one looking worse then the others, her face seemed purple and she was trying to keep her mouth closed. Dante was starring at this happen and shook his head worriedly. "You guys okay?" Ayame made a gurgling noise and she turned to a trashcan. Kimni was looking at them all frightened. Vergil appeared behind her and grabbed her by her shoulders. Dante saw this and shouted running towards them.

"Remember how you died…"

Kimni fell backwards feeling as if something was gagging her, shocking her to death. The face of Vergil loomed as her vision went blank. People were still walking around and an ambulance was called. Dante lifted his hands and, as if by magic, timed stop. The crowd around them was silent; it was only them that could move. Vergil kneeled to check Kimni's and Arith's pulse, Dante did the same to Ayame and Aranell, and then frowned. "I don't like this, it was to fast." Vergil nodded his agreement and sat down.

"They're dead."

Dante sat down as well and scratched his head and rubbed his neck. Vergil stood up and started walking. "They won't remember a thing of after we started fighting. Get them out of here and your safe."

"So they won't remember you?"

Vergil grinned. "Of course they will, I was there before we started fighting."  
He walked off leaving Dante with their dead bodies; he then waited until they came back to life. He shrugged and whispered into the air, where no one could hear…

"They are ready."


	6. Chapter 6

The four of them were walking down the street. New Jersey was nothing compared to the Valley. There were papers on the street, mostly no grass, and hobos here and there. The towering buildings were eerie, everything was. Dante was pointing out "Famous" places like the club on the corner of Natch Street, the pizza place, the house of horror, and all these other places. It was night and they were all getting drowsy, except for Dante. He was happy being home but the girls were exhausted. Arith was actually the one suffering the most. She had the heaviest backpack. She turned to Dante and stopped. "Honestly, this isn't cool. I'm tired, I'm sleepy, I'm hungry, and were still on the road!" Dante turned to her and smirked. "It's almost going to start raining soon." This made Arith go into a fit.

"Honestly Dante, that isn't nice!"

Ayame slowed her pace and walked beside her. "It's okay, you can kill him in the middle of the night." The girls laughed and Dante acted like the victim. "You would kill me, after all I've done for you?" Arith stopped and starred at him coldly. She then spoke all irritated and counted them off on her finger. "If you mean, almost killing me, scarring me to death, making me sit with that brother of yours…."

"Virgin? But you loved sitting with him!" Ayame retorted. All the girls giggled madly. Kimni took hold of Arith and Ayame, Ayame held on to Aranell, and they skipped. Kimni started singing and Aranell and Ayame joined.

"ARITH AND VERGIL SITTING IN A TREE…."

Ayame then made up her own part of the song:

"F-U-…"

Dante was the first to turn and start on Ayame. Arith started on her too and Kimni, together with Aranell, were like two drunks laughing on the street curb. Arith then started walking faster but stopped. "Where the hell is your place Dante!" Ayame was fighting with Dante and, seeing Arith was giving him the opportunity to change conversation, Dante turned to her. "Good question. You all are going to find it."

"WHAT?"

The girls echoed terrified. Aranell was the first to protest. She walked forward making Kimni fall off, she was still laughing and snorting. "You're insane! We don't know this place!" Dante grinned and walked slowly. His red cloak bellowed around him and his hair shinned with the street lamps. He lifted his gloved hand to indicate number one. "First mission is for you all to find your way home. Let's say as a guidepost. ' Main street will reveal the secrets you need. The red lights shine so obvious.' When you get home, hot pizza will be waiting for you." Kimni starred at him and retorted. "Do you have any idea how out of shape I am?"

"She isn't the only one."

They all started bickering cornering Dante towards a wall. He lifted his arms as a shield and hushed them. "Woo, calm down babes. You can use the books, they got everything you need." Ayame opened her backpack and took out her book. She flipped through the pages and cursed. "But Mr. Sparda, this damn book doesn't have a damn index!" The girls all gasped and checked. Aranell was looking at Arith's book. Dante was laughing so loud the girls had to stop and stare to make sure he was all right.

"No index! Man that's funny… you all sound like a bunch of nerds!" The girls looked at each other and echoed angrily.

"WE ARE NERDS!" Dante stopped and grinned. "Man, I need to remember that." He scratched the back of his head walking. The girls followed. Dante heard them walk and stopped. "Your not suppose to be following." The girls stopped and said nothing. Dante turned and frowned. "Come on, cheer up. Just this first mission and you're through." They kept quiet. Arith turned away and cursed under her breathe. He waved goodbye and jumped, propelling himself high into the air. They starred at him and a huge sigh of irritation came from Arith. "Okay, okay, so let's get this over with. I want pizza." Ayame and Kimni got the books and started reading. Arith did the same. Aranell waited. They hadn't noticed they were still walking when Arith protested. "I can't find the damn guidepost." Aranell starred at Arith. "We don't need a guidepost, we need a damn phone booth!" Sarah gasped surprised. "Aranell your right! We can just find the DMC in the phone book!" They all looked around hoping to glimpse a phone booth but none was to be seen. Above them a rumble came from the clouds. All of a sudden, as if by a slow motion camera, all the girls saw a single drop of rain falling right in front of them. Their heads followed it until it hit the ground. It reflected the light from the nearby light posts and then, with an ominous smack, it dissolved on the ground. Before they could lift their heads up, rain was pounding on them all ready. A small sniff came from Arith and they all ran down the street. No one spoke but ran until Ayame stopped, gasping to talk. "LOOK…MAIN…STREET…." She yelled over the noise of the falling rain. It seemed they had been running for the longest time. They all sighed happily to see Main Street. Kimni then starred down the road and happily cheered, though out of breath. "THE PINK LIGHTS! DEVIL MAY CRY!" The girls started running, but it seemed it was taking ages. Arith fell and was now covered with mud, but other than that, they made it.

Kimni banged on the door frantically. Inside, heavy metal was playing…very loud. Kimni was about to bang on it again and it opened. Her hand came pounding on someone's bare chest. The girls gasped and they followed the bare chest to see Dante, his hair dripping and a towel over his shoulder looking down at Kimni's fist. Kimni gasped and removed her hand. "I'm sorry, I was about to knock and…"

"Don't sweat, it's cool." He let them pass and walked to the middle of the big room. "Ladies, welcome to my home. It's not much but it's home." The home part was true. A desk was on the far middle, a phone over it. Some steps leading to the upper floor was on the left side. Some couches were under them and a billiard table was in the side. On the right, huge speakers, a drum set and a guitar fit perfectly and welcoming. The girls were looking around; the only noise came from the music playing. Dante walked and sat on the desk holding two boxes of pizza. He beckoned them and they didn't protest. They snatched the box and ate, all the while sitting at the couches. Dante was pacing around and once in a while changed songs at the jukebox.

"Awesome! Pepperoni!"

"I shotgun that piece, Hey!"

"To late, unless you want me to barf it out."

The girls giggled at their own jokes. They had actually excluded Dante out of this. He was just there starring at them happily. Arith was the first one to finish eating and yawned. "Crap. I'm so freaking tired but I need to take a bath." Ayame laughed and shrugged. "Then go to sleep and take a shower in the morning." Arith thought about it and then frowned. "Wait, can the rain mean we took a bath?" Aranell raised her finger almost like Ayame would. "Honestly Arith, New Jersey is so polluted I'm pretty impressed we didn't receive acid rain."

"Acid rain? You have to be really contaminated to get that." Kimni added, still with a pizza in her mouth. They started discussing this matter until Dante fell next to Kimni on the couch and rested his head on her shoulder. The girls all went quiet and Arith giggled. "Trying to get attention, Dante?"

He smirked and threw a cushion at Arith, which she blocked.

"Actually I'm trying not to fall asleep with your nerdy talk. Acid Rain…. come on!" Kimni pushed him away and laughed. "We're not always going to talk about guns you know." Everyone laughed as Dante put a sarcastic hurt face. The girls all threw him a cushion. He blocked most and threw them back. One went flying to the other side of the room, missing Aranell by inches. Arith went for it and stopped. She saw the guitar and she felt tears streak down her cheek. The group at the couches turned to Arith. Ayame was the first to do something, which was throw her a cushion. Arith didn't even jerk.

"It's…its beautiful man. Dante can I play it?" Dante lifted himself lightly from the couch then shrugged back. "Sure… Don't mess a lot with it. Be careful." Arith turned to him, now placing the strap over her. "You make me sound like a noob."

"You are, aren't you?" Dante said with a bit of mock. Arith came back messing around with the guitar. She looked around and shrugged. "Where do you have picks?" Dante stood up to get one from his pocket and handed it to her. Ayame tsked lightly. "I wouldn't trust you if I were you Dante. She'll run out of the building with it, just wait." Aranell frowned at Ayame. "That's mean Ayame!" Kimni started laughing. "I wouldn't doubt it though." Arith was now doing the riff to 'sweet dreams' and head banging lightly. "Honestly Ayame, you really think I would do that? If it were someone else, yeah I would." She laughed. Dante picked up his head and starred at Arith. "Wow, you're pretty good. Get some distortion, it sounds too clean." Arith nodded and skipped to the speakers and flipped some switches. Dante walked to her and got the other guitar. The others just starred. Arith played the riff again and adjusted the tone. Dante starred making sure she did it right.

"Good, how about battle of the solos?" Dante stammered excitedly. Arith frowned. "I'm not that good. My strong hold is the drums." Dante snapped his fingers. "My old drum set is in the back. Tomorrow we'll put it up and running. Arith said nothing but high fived Dante. She took of the guitar strap and yawned. "Ok, I'm sleepy." She turned to the girls but they were all whispering something. When they saw Arith turn in their direction they giggled. Arith didn't even want to know. Dante was going crazy with the guitar and the girls were trying to get his attention. Ayame shouted at Arith.

"DO THE CALLING ARITH!"

"WHAT CALLING!"

"NO STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN, MAN!"

Arith got this and she laughed making a super high squeaky noise made by the bending of a cord and sliding over it. Dante growled covering his ears. He turned to them. "What?"

"We're sleepy. Where do we go sleep?"

"In a room, whichever one upstairs. Not the red door one, that one is mine." The girls murmured their goodnight and headed up stairs. Surely enough the big red door was in the very end of the hall. They all starred and Arith cheered. "Shocking Pink!" She ran to a door and opened it; sadly it was just a broom closet. The girls laughed at her and then went into separate rooms.

In one of them Kimni was starring at the 4 post bed then at a recliner in the room. It looks so much like home she thought. Her backpack was on the edge of the bed and she kicked it off in order to fit. It was a big bed but she wanted all the space she could get. The yellow light bounced of the greenish wallpaper. She kind of thought it was probably mold but it wasn't. The bed sheets were green too. She grinned. It seems she choose the right room and to think Dante had said whichever room. A shout from down stairs, of course from Dante, interrupted her thoughts. She laughed silently and starred at the white ceiling thinking if she should be glad or sad of having this opportunity. She hadn't thought of home in a while, should she be ashamed? Firstly, why haven't the police been looking for them? Kimni turned in her bed and covered her head with the pillow. A strong urge of crying came over her. This was great but still, there's no place like home right? The music went on and on and poor Kimni was still pondering these thoughts of homesickness. She lifted herself rapidly from the bed and gasped.

"What if I'm the only one who feels this? Does that make me week?"

Shouts of "OH YEAH!" from downstairs made her hide her face into the pillows again. She fell into an uneasy sleep. She figured she would talk to the others in the morning.

Next door to her, Ayame was spreading out some contents of her backpack. Her trusty CD player was on the bedside table and some books were piled neatly on the desk. She hummed lightly having all ready taken in the room. Everything was blue. Ayame wasn't surprised and could imagine Dante laughing at his own small joke stupidly down stairs. Could anyone be more stupid then he is? She thought. Her arms were feeling tired and she felt her eyes starting to close involuntarily. She groaned slightly, not having finished fixing the room to look a little like home and grabbed her element book and started reading. She read for a while and every so often stretched to see the bed clock. "12:56…1:22… Damn, Dante is never going to stop playing!" She turned of the lamp beside her and closed the drapes of the bed. She shrugged and jammed the CD player into her ears with a last sigh of relief. She placed the book on the bedside table and pulled the covers over her. The song was playing into her ears and she was lulled to sleep. Surprisingly, she fell into a deep sleep, unlike Kimni.

Across from her the one and only Aranell was falling asleep. Her whole room was colored oddly. The walls were some odd gray and it didn't reflect much light. Aranell was lying soundly on the bed. Her hair was pulled up on top and her hand was next to her face. The big covers were covering from her nose down, actually, and her exhales were heard muffled. She had been investigating this new place and had found a small teddy bear dressed like a joker and was now taking a place next to her on the bed. The silver bed sheets covered her snuggly and only a lump showing her form could be seen. The light from the street made an eerie glow on her right wall. If you were careful shapes could be easily seen. All of a sudden a crash from downstairs was heard and Aranell woke up quickly. She jerked so fast that she fell off the bed. With a few curse words and a soothing on the head, the shouts of Dante saying he had tripped and everything's okay finally got to her ears. She muttered furiously and got back into the bed. Her hands trailed to the plush doll but she couldn't feel it. She lifted her self up slightly and at that precise moment the shadow of someone who was passing her window was visible. The rain was hard outside but Aranell was sure it was someone. She was going to get up but considering she had moved to fast she had gotten dizzy. All she did was pull the drape curtains of the 4- post bed closed. She lay back down and accidentally forgot about it as sleep took control of her again. "Crazy Dante, that pervert…." Were her last words as she fell into a deep sleep…

Arith's room was located beside Aranell's room. Arith was starring out the open window taking in the smell of rain. She loved it. Not only was it soothing but also, one doesn't smell it all the time. Where her window was, water didn't come in. She turned slightly towards the room and stretched her hand to her wet pants and shirt lying on the back of a chair. It was cold and being wet wasn't cool. She had looked around and got to the conclusion that this was probably Dante's old room. Some old trench coats and shirts were in the closet and in a few drawers. Other then that, everything else was empty. The walls were a deep red-wine color. She loved it. The bed sheets were also the same and the curtains, (oh did I mention it had a 4-post bed? XD) were black making it look elegant. She had changed into an old long shirt that fit her like a nightgown, followed with her fpf shorts, and a trench coat covered her keeping her warm. It reached a few inches on the floor. She had posed for a while admiring the trench coat on a mirror that was located on one side of the room but then got tired and tried sorting her stuff out around the room. Arith is an easily amused person but keeping her amused takes practice. Of course she got bored. She paced for several minutes not wanting to go to sleep and finally she got the great Idea of opening the window. She was leaning on the windowsill and stretched her hand out to the rain. It felt cold on her hand. She brought it back in quickly and turned to check on her clothes again. Suddenly the Window slammed close. Arith stopped and felt like a cold wind had hit her for a second. She didn't turn. Fear circled her and darkness did to. The only thing she had at the moment for light was the open element book. Its read light lit most of the room but made it look eerie. She heard a small chuckle and she turned to see nothing. The window was closed and she walked and opened it. The moonlight washed in once more and behind her a grinding of a sword being unsheathed was heard.

" Nice room this is. If you ask me, it's to good for a girl like you."

Arith turned and the white haired guy on the plane was smirking at her.

"Vergil…" She growled. He looked at her then at the drying clothes. He rolled his eyes and paced a bit. "I don't even want to know." He walked in front of the window letting the moonlight make his all ready pale skin shine. Arith starred not knowing what to say. Vergil stood still as if thinking but with such a cold expression…Arith wanted to slap him. Finally she spoke, which to her surprise Vergil took as a joke.

"You know, all I have to do is scream…"

"And that will do what. Bring Dante on my tail? Please. I move with a faster and more precise lead. I'll have you gagged before you scream."

"So now you're thinking of gagging me?"

"No. Why would I do a thing like that? Of course, unless you want to be gagged."

"So now your going to make me scream, is that it?"

An odd silence fell on both of them. Vergil had turned to stare at her, his eyebrows slightly raised. Arith was looking out the window. Something wasn't right. She then gasped loudly in shocked.

"OH MY GOD, THAT SOUNDED SO WRONG."

Arith moved away from Vergil and cursed madly. Vergil starred at her, a slight raise of the corners of his lips showed mock. He looked down and blushed lightly. He had to admit. Even he hadn't thought of it like that. He then remembered he was the cold one. He turned to her and she was now blushing like mad. The moonlight didn't help to hide the redness off her pale cheeks. Arith saw his stare and moved back. "Please don't hurt me." Vergil shook his head. "I'm not here to hurt you Damnit. I'm here because…"

"Because?"

"Because I think I…"

"Because you think you what Damnit?"

"May I finish please!" He shouted Angrily. Arith crossed her arms and frowned. Vergil looked back out the window focusing his attention on a street lamp.

"I think I can trust you."

Arith let out a small sigh and turned to him. "What do you mean? I only met you on the flight. 4 hours at the most. Why do you trust me?" Vergil turned slightly, his sword in hand. "You see, I am pretty sure my dear 'brother' told you all about past, present, and future."

"A little." Arith replied. She was now biting her nail. "Go on."

"Well, I'm pretty sure you don't possibly think he is any match against them. I'm not doing this to save his life, on the contraire. Once were finished with these pests, I will go back to ruining his life. I have tried seamlessly times in defeating them, but I know my limits. With you four combined, there is a 100 chance that we can destroy them." His voice had gradually increased to excitement and honor. Arith, through out the whole speech, had been entranced by his blue eyes. She said only two words that were exactly what Vergil wanted to here, by the looks of it.

"Go on."

"I figured, if I can keep you as a close acquaintance…."

"HOLD UP!" Arith shrieked shocked. "You're asking me to be your girlfriend!" Her eyes had widened and her hand was across her chest as if this news had stabbed her in the heart. Vergil starred at her blankly then shook his head angrily and frustrated. "NO! HAVEN'T YOU'VE BEEN LISTENING TO ME!" He walked forward towards her and Arith fell back, having tripped over her own backpack. She shrieked and Vergil tried his best in hushing her by pointing his sword to her throat. She whimpered. Her angry stare burned into his eyes and a bang from the door was heard.

"Arith! Is everything okay! Did you fall off your bed!"

Vergil made Arith back up towards the wall and she spoke quietly but frightened. "Yes I'm fine. I hit myself. Err…yeah, I fell off." Vergil turned to the door and made sure the door didn't turn. When he was satisfied with the shutting of the doors he turned back to Arith. She was checking her clothes again and took them from the chair. Vergil looked at her for a few minutes. Arith starred back angrily. She blinked. He blinked. She frowned. He frowned. Arith threw her clothes on the bed and protested angrily. "Aren't you finished here? Go away!"

"You never answered my question."

"No Vergil Sparda, I won't go out with you. I don't like guys that threaten me with their swords at my neck. Besides, your not worthy of even being my first love." Arith said this grinning. Vergil flared angrily. "Who ever said you was quite the treat. Please, you insult me, thinking I would ever like a small, pathetic and ignorant scum like you." As Vergil said this he was walking towards her until he was practically looking down into her face. She had a grim face towards him. She starred at his chest then at his face. Vergil seemed to be trying to find what she was up to until she spoke.

"Tell me Vergil, have you ever been kicked were it hurts?" Vergil couldn't help but smirked. "Is that what your thinking of? What a most perverse mind you have. If you must know, no I haven't. No body would even dare touch me."

Arith smirked and pushed him slightly. Vergil was about to react but Arith was to fast and with much experience. She kicked him right where it hurt. Vergil doubled over and Arith skipped sideways. She laughed quietly and walked to the door. She turned just to see the sight of Vergil dragging himself across the floor to get to her. Arith looked at him sadly, I over did it She whistled and pointed at him. "Okay, Mr. Sparda. You be a good boy and jump out the window because I'm going to go change. I don't want to see you here when I come back and if I do see you, I'll make you sterile. MMKAY?" She closed the door and walked to the bathroom.


	7. Chapter 7

Minutes later she was walking out all ready dressed and she noticed something was wrong. Her door was open. She had closed it. She was sure of it. Either it had opened accidentally or Vergil was walking around. The first impulse that she got was to check on her friends. She walked through the hall and saw that all the doors were closed, except one. Aranell's door was ajar and Arith walked cautiously to it. She put her head inside and saw the most peculiar sight. A boy with amazingly red hair was looking down at Aranell. His red eyes seemed to glow and he seemed to be mesmerized by Aranell. Arith giggled slightly and he heard. He moved off the side of the bed and pointed his sword at Arith. Arith starred and walked into the room.

"You stalker, you."

The guy growled slightly and starred at Arith menacingly. "I'm not." Arith nodded and starred at Aranell. "Well, I'm pretty sure if she knew you were gauging over her, sleeping at that, she would totally kick your ass." The guy smirked slightly and walked to the other side of the bed, in front of Arith. "Go to sleep girl, your making me change ideas. Killing you won't' be hard, your just not worth it." Arith smiled, seeing the same rotten attitude of Vergil inside of him. "And she is, Hu?" She looked around for an easy way to wake Aranell up without letting this Jerk know. All of a sudden a scream, sounding a lot from Dante in pain, came from down stairs. The whole floor shook. Arith took this chance to throw Aranell's Biology book at the boy. He dodged but tripped, falling backwards. A shot of some kind of energy force made Arith slam into the hallways wall. Aranell woke up in an instant and screamed seeing the boy. He was caught off guard and didn't speak, just starred at her. Aranell was half asleep but knew what was happening.

"Get the hell out of my room intruder!"

She gave a sharp whip of her hand and all of a sudden a huge gust of wind pinned the boy to the wall. Arith stood up and walked to Aranell. "Wow, you did it!"

Footsteps came from the hall and Kimni, closely followed by Ayame, appeared. They starred amazed and squinted to catch a better glimpse of the red head. Another growl came from downstairs and the girls gasped. Arith turned to Aranell; she was out of bed and walking towards the guy. She held a bat in both hands and over her head. Ayame was laughing silently. Arith bit her lip and grabbed Kimni. She shrieked slightly for she was falling asleep again. "Come on, Ayame can help Aranell, but we got to help Dante!" Ayame seemed to listen to what Arith said and agreed. She grabbed another book and carried it over her head. She laughed menacingly making the guy open his mouth in horror.

Kimni and Arith were running down the stairs when a body was launched to their feet. Arith fell in shock but it took Kimni a few minutes to notice someone was launched near them. A boy with incredible orange hair looked up at them. His eyes were also orange. He growled and got up. "GAURDIANS?"

He jumped and flipped in the air. His black cloak was lined with orange and fluttered gracefully. The right side was torn and he glared at both Kimni and Arith. In the background, Dante was in devil trigger and was being pinned by another boy with shoulder length purple hair. He turned and screamed out. "GET AWAY! GET THE OTHER GIRLS AND GO!" He threw the other kid across the room and tried shanking him. Arith and Kimni were going to run upstairs but the boy with red hair surrounded them. He wore the same uniform that the others wore. Only difference was that the lining of each boy pertained to his color of hair. Now it was the four girls on the stairs being led down slowly. Arith and Aranell were glaring at them all. The boy with red hair (and red eyes) laughed mockingly as they reached the first floor.

"I can't believe this. 40 years have passed and this is what we're stuck with to destroy! How pathetic. And here we were, thinking of our deaths like others before us!" All three boys laughed. Dante appeared from behind a pile of ceiling and walked crookedly towards the group. His eyes seemed unfocused and he pointed his gun at the red head.

"Listen you good for nothing piece of shit. Nobody, but NOBODY…messes with my girls!" He was about to shoot but he tumbled falling beside Kimni. She held him in order for him not to fall. He turned his head at Kimni and smiled throwing his hair out of his eyes with a small head bang. "How you doin' beautiful?" Before Kimni could answer, the read head started laughing again.

"Let me guess, this is who your mentor is? Funny. I was sure it would have been the other one." The boy with the orange hair scratched his head. "Vergil, you mean? Vergil Sparda?" The red head nodded. "Yes, him. That idiot who thinks he can out smart us. Not today. I'll be the first to kill in this room. Who wants to be the first to die…"

All of a sudden a sword slash, out of no where and made the blade the red head was holding fly out of his hands and stick to a wall.

"Hmm…how nice to know that my enemies are envious of me. I'm flattered."

All the girls gasped and turned to the entrance hall.

Vergil lifted his head and starred coldly at the red head. "Especially from the "oh-so-ruthless" Future." So now the red head has a name. Future glared at Vergil angrily and looked at his sword. "What an entrance Son of Sparda, what an entrance!" The other boys moved towards Vergil. The orange haired boy spoke followed by the purple one.

"Come on Past, we can take him on, again."

"All right present."

Vergil closed his eyes and walked slowly. He wasn't at all worried of the two heading his way. Dante was now leaning on Kimni, making her loose her breath. He looked up and starred at Vergil, the dizziness was going away and he was becoming more conscious. Vergil gave a quick glance at the girls and nodded. Dante growled and shoved Kimni off. She whimpered slightly And turned to the other girls. "What are we going to do, they are outnumbered!" Ayame was thinking. She then looked down at her hands and sighed. "We haven't had no training but we have read parts of the book, haven't we? Kimni nodded trying to remember the first chapter of the book, 'flower power'. Arith nodded slowly then stopped.

"WHAT!" even Dante and Vergil turned.

"This is a building with a wood foundation. I am fire itself!" Ayame nodded. "Wow, Arith, finally you say something that makes sense." Arith laughed sarcastically. Future however grabbed Aranell and pulled her as a hostage.

"You just try anything and she dies."

Kimni let Dante fall to the floor and turned to look around. Vergil was engaged against past and present. She new they were Aranell's only hope.

"Let me go you son-of-a-bitch! I'm going to kick your ass if you don't let me go!"

"You tell 'em man!"

"Arith! Your not helping!"

"Sorry…"

Ayame walked forward being the fearless leader.

"Listen future, let her go and we can settle this in a civilized way." Future laughed at Ayame and Aranell stepped on his foot making him double backwards. All three girls lunged at him pinning him to the floor. At that precise moment past and present stopped and turned to help future (considering Vergil was thrown to a closet and shut there) they stood up to walk but the girls were all ready.

"One more step dudes, and this guy get incinerated." Ariths forefinger caught flames and she placed it several inches from Futures face. He jerked away. Aranell was holding his hands behind his back in a hand lock, Ayame had him held by his neck pushing him down, to inflict torture, and Kimni and Arith had him pointed at with flame and…

"A flower?" Past stated. His angry face turned into a mocking grin. He and present laughed which then made the girls turn to Kimni. She looked around and grred.

"Look, trust me okay? Lesson number one, be pretty but lethal!" Past and present then started charging at them. Arith turned the flaming finger closer to Future, he growled angrily. What came next was unexpected. First, it was as if time stopped and was going real slow, Future got free and turned pinning Arith to the floor. He held his sword high over his head ready to take a swing. At this Kimni screamed out "Let her go!" and her flower started glowing. Kimni dropped it as it grew into a vine like animal and went into the wooden floor. All of a sudden, the floor around Arith and Future was split apart and huge vines grabbed Future and threw him across the room. Ayame had turned to past and present and was saying that the fearless leader would prevail, so on so forth… a jet of water blasted from her outstretched hands and hit them squarely in the chest propelling them out the door. Aranell had run to Arith and lifted her off the floor. There was still Future to take care of. All the girls walked to him, who was now pined by all the vines.

"You won't get away with this, Guardians!"

The girls grinned at each other and Arith walked towards him.

"So, how do you want your meat, Future, Medium well or just well done?"

"You wouldn't dare!"

Arith grinned, her hands igniting.

"Try me."

At once she pushed them towards him and only his body was caught in the flames. She backed up brushing her hands on her jeans extinguishing the fire. Ayame started screaming.

"The future, the future, the future's on fire!"

"Burn mother F…"

Future growled tearing the vines holding him in place and he ran to the door, pushing everyone out of the way. Before he got to the door, Dante picked him up by the scruff of his shirt.

"Next time you want to mess with my girls, you know all ready right?" Future kicked him, but Dante was in Devil trigger and laughed menacingly. He tossed him out the door and shut it closed.

Next minute all the girls were cheering and dancing around talking of the events of that night. Dante was looking around for something. The four girls turned to him and starred at him confused.

"What are you looking for?"

Dante turned around towards them and scratched his head.

"Well for one thing…"

The closet door burst open and the door went flying across the room. Vergil stepped out growling furiously. His hair was like Dante's now it wasn't spiked up. He turned to look around hoping to see the others but just saw the girls and Dante. He fixed his cloak and walked towards them. Dante grinned evilly.

"What's the matter big brother, you got your ass kicked?" Vergil turned to him and frowned menacingly. "At least I didn't need the assistance of anyone." He turned to Kimni and eyed her evilly too. Kimni shrugged. "Why are you getting me involved with your family feuds?" The girls all laughed. Dante turned to them and stretched. "It's 3 in the morning, you should all go to bed." Arith protested.

"What? Go to bed? After this! You're insane!" Aranell nodded. "Yeah, I mean, they can still be out there causing mayhem!" The girls ganged up on Dante pushing him towards a wall. Dante lifted his arms up surrendering. "Okay chicks, calm down! I'm not the enemy."

"So is that a yes?"

"No."

The girls turned to Vergil. He was standing looking around the room.

"A true guardian never affects anything, but what he or she has too. Look at this place. It's a mess. The floor is ripped open, there's burn marks on the walls, clearly, you show lack of training." Vergil was pointing at everything a bit angrily but then his voice and expression softened as he turned to them.

"There is no doubt you four are the chosen ones. But you must understand, running into war can lead you to a very quick ending. I am sure that Past, Present, and Future saw these details of you. Of course, if you think about it, that's a good thing. If you all are powerful now I can't wait to see how you ladies will turn out to be."

A few of the girls blushed at his words and then Dante walked forward holding Aranell's and Kimni's shoulders.

"Well, one thing is for sure, you guys did great. I saw celebration is in order." They all cheered and even Vergil smiled, a small smile, but he smiled. From where Vergil was standing, next to the whole on the ground, a small childish growling echoed itself out. Everyone turned towards Vergil.

"It wasn't me. It's coming from down there." They all walked slowly to the edge and saw that the whole went a respectful way down.

"What do you suppose it is?"

"A dinosaur?"

"Arith, don't be stupid."

"Hey you asked what I thought."

"Silence…. It's coming up."

Everyone held his or her breath. Kimni was peering in when all of a sudden something jumped out of the darkness and pushed her to the floor. She looked up to see it was a small plant looking creature. It had an oval head with blue pupil less eyes. It had blue flower pedals as hair and it had a small body that could change into vines. It gooo'd at Kimni and opened its mouth showing its fang like teeth. Kimni starred shocked. Vergil walked forward and laughed, something that no one not even Dante had heard him do.

"I see you've read the first chapter to your book."

Kimni looked up at Vergil as the creature jumped up happily on her.

"Every guardian has a companion, a pet. This particular creature is for the guardian of earth."

"For me?" Kimni said getting up. She held the creature in her arms and it licked her hands and fingers. All the girls starred and laughed at how cute it was. Kimni patted it slightly.

"So what's your name?" It growled slowly.

"Sprout, eh? How cute!" It yawned and blinked sleepily.

"You're sleepy? Oh poor thing, you did such a good job!"

Dante puffed all jealous. "It didn't do anything…" All of a sudden it growled at him and if it wasn't for Kimni holding it tight, it would have jumped on Dante. He growled back at it and Kimni sticked her tongue out. "Leave it alone Dante, look, it's just a baby!"

"A baby with fangs, is that what a baby should look like?"

Vergil threw him an evil glance and walked to the door.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

Arith turned her head towards Vergil and sighed slightly, remembering what had happened upstairs and somehow she actually regretted being mean. Vergil picked up something from the floor and turned back to Dante,

"Here, you can thank me later."

"What the heck…" A book similar to the ones that the girls had received came smashing into Dante's face just like when Arith had gotten hit by the books, which was why she gasped. Dante growled and turned to Vergil about to hit him back when Ayame gasped and ran up to Dante making him let go of the book. Dante let it go willingly about to shout an insult when he too realized what Ayame was holding.

"The Book of The Guardian of Wind." Vergil's voice came out of nowhere again…as usual. Aranell gasped and walked to Ayame who was stretching out her hands towards Aranell she took the book and at once an invincible gust of wind surrounded Aranell and lifted her black curls up into the air. As soon as the wind appeared it was gone and a silver glow came from the emblem on the cover. Aranell opened it and looked inside and words started appearing looking like ripples of a clear liquid but glowed like lightning, it showered the girls faces as they came to peer into the book.

"This is amazing… thank you so much Vergil!" Aranell's face looked up to Vergil with tears streaming down her cheeks, Vergil just starred back, and a small shade of pink covered his cheeks.

"Man, that looks tight."

"Yeah it does, now we can all be powerful and stuff."

"We are powerful Kimni, we're guardians!"

"Tired guardians at that." Arith yawned and stretched heading for the stairs. "I'm out dudes, we'll party tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, "Dante walked behind Arith, "Your training starts."

There was something about the tone of voice in which Dante said this that brought a chill up all the girls' spines. They all walked behind Dante and Arith when someone cleared out his throat. Everyone turned to Vergil who was standing there looking at them all madly, he seemed quite out of place with a door a few feet away and a whole behind him… he seemed to proper and clean to be in a junk yard as this.

"And what about all this mess?"

"I'll clean it tomorrow 'brother' now get out of my house."

"A burglar could just waltz in here and take everything, you don't even have a door."

"Then stay here and watch out for them then!" Dante walked upstairs and then growled going back to Vergil. All the girls just nodded and said their goodnights (A small growl came from the sleeping Sprout) and they were all safe in their beads. Arith made sure her window was locked and was lulled to sleep by the crashing and screaming from downstairs.

It was 10 in the morning and the sun was barely showing itself from the top of the buildings and illuminating the spacious kitchen where the girls were. The smell of eggs and pancakes was pervading the whole Devil May Cry Agency and was making the place seem more like home. Ayame was at the stove humming happily to herself and some eggs were frying on the pan. Kimni was serving some orange juice to everyone and also a glass of milk. Aranell was rummaging through the cabinets trying to find syrup and Arith was reading the newspaper.

"How would you like your eggs Arith?"

"Don't like eggs, just the pancakes will do."

"What about you Kimni and Aranell?"

"Eggs are fine, but can you make mine scrambled?"

"Mine too!"

"Sure can!" Ayame smiled flipping the eggs.

There was a period of silence where once in a while someone would speak or make a funny and that would make them all laugh. Arith was reading the comics aloud when on the front page there was a huge picture and the words "WANTED" Arith sat up strait and called them forth.

"Hey guys check this out. "_Wanted: Albino Kidnaps_"

All the girls starred at each other and Arith kept reading…

_Almost a week ago, the strange disappearance of 4(four) girls who were attending the same school district in Texas, South Texas ISD, were said to be kidnapped by a man who was passing as a South Texas Administrator who was supervising the schools on their corresponding campus. The Girls were said to have been left in the councilors office, unsupervised, and the secretary there (Who wished not to have her name read out) said that when she came back from a very important call, there was glass spread across the floor and blood was visible in the glass shards. Doctors have matched the blood to that of Arith (not on liberty to say last name) It can be inferred that the four girls are in this mans control and might be anywhere in the United States. It is said that this man is dangerous and should be dealt with caution. If any sighting of the girls who's pictures appear on both page 1 (one) and 3(three), please call the National Child Kidnap Association at 555-…._

The story kept going on and talking about bloody sheets being found at a Motel Six somewhere in the north part of Texas and how maybe sexual abuse was inflicted upon them. And here the girls thought they weren't important but now, it seemed, Dante was being put as number one on the most wanted list. Would they be sent home, did Dante know what was happening? Ayame was starring at the paper as if she had never seen such a thing in her life, Aranell was biting her nail shyly and was shaking a bit, Kimni was starring with her mouth open in pure horror and Arith was sniffing.

"What are we going to do? I miss my parents."

"Yeah, so do I…. but we got to stop the trio."

"May…maybe we should talk to Dante about this."

Right when Kimni said this, footsteps were coming down the stairs and Dante appeared with a towel over his head, drying him self. He stopped at the sight of the girls and then nodded happily.

"That's what I'm talking about!"

"What!"

"To wake up with four gorgeous girls who…by the looks of it…make breakfast!" He went around the girls kissing them all on the cheek. Ayame was caught off guard and almost drooped her spatulas; Aranell was still in shock and didn't even realize she was kissed. Kimni tried to prevent him from kissing her but that just made Dante hug her and give her a very long kiss on the cheek, she started screaming horrified remembering what the article had said about abuse, but then Dante turned to Arith and saw her crying.

"Hey, Arith what's wrong?"

She lifted the article so that Dante could see. He was still hugging Kimni and finally noticed she was shaking and let her go, he walked towards Arith and sat down on a chair reading the article. All the girls turned to look at his face expression, which showed pure concentration. It was deadly quite for a long time until Kimni asked shyly, "Err…are you finished?"

"Not yet…what's this word?"

Kimni leaned in and fixed her glasses in order to see.

"Gesticulate."

"What the hell does that mean? It sounds...err…wrong."

Kimni shot Ayame a look; Ayame just frowned and was about to smack him with the spatula and slowly raised it over her head... Arith interrupted by snatching the paper away from Dante.

"Hey what…"

"YOU'RE READING THE WRONG ARTICLE, DAMNIT!"

"Woo, babe…. calm down. I'm sorry! What do you want me to read?"

"THIS DAMNIT!"

She turned the page back around and made him look at the article which made Dante squint and laugh. Arith threw Aranell a horrified look and Kimni walked backwards and hid behind Ayame for protection. Dante looked up at Arith and stretched giving her the paper.

"I put it here so I could talk about it in the morning."

"What do you mean? You new about this!"

Dante laughed and stretched slightly taking the towel off his head. "Of course I knew about it, I was the one who sent them the tip." Ayame walked forward and starred amazed at Dante.

"And why the hell would you do that? If they find us…"

"Which they won't." added Dante with a grin. Ayame sat on another chair and starred at Dante trying to sort things out. "Wait, wait, wait… so you sent the information and now all of America is looking for you and you say they won't find us?" Dante nodded and then stretched and stood up to walk to a cabinet, he took out another newspaper and handed it to Arith so she could read out loud.

_Wanted: Albino Idiot 'for' Kidnapping_

_The scandal that had a whole school district and the Investigation Bureaus in a complete state of alert has finally come to an end. The four girls whom were thought to be kidnapped were found ones more in a neighborhood Whataburger near Raymondville Texas. From the confessions that were stated by these girls, it has been concluded that the kidnap was nothing more then a joke and a ransom that went bad It seems that this so called "Dante" had taken that name from a video game and was, therefore, insane and clearly a fraud. From what the girls have said the man wanted the ransom to be completed so that he could "Take over the world". Not only did this man fail to get the ransom, he was clearly defeated and put in a state of coma by the girls. He was put into the McAllen hospital and was suppose to recover in a week. To the great regrets of the police, the man has escaped once more from their hands. He is said to be tall, white hair blue eyes, and wearing a medical lab coat, please call the national hotline of America's Most wanted Association at 555-…_

Arith stopped and turned to Dante who had a large grin and some how was not at all bothered by any accusations that were being said against his name. Arith couldn't help but stare at him angrily and imagine her self slapping that accursed grin from his face.

"What is it, do you think this is funny?"

"What do they mean "The girls were found"…we're right here!"

"Dante is old? Whom are they talking about?"

Dante starting laughing and then hushed them and started explaining.

"Okay…question number one. This is funny because it all went as I planed and if you knew me, that doesn't tend to happen. Question number two, the girls they have aren't actually you people…they are shape-shifting demons I made friends with. It was either they do something for me or I kill them… I took advantage. Third question…"

"Wait…" Aranell stopped him. "So, there are demons at our house in place of us? Won't they like…rebel against your orders?" Dante shook his head smiling proudly. "Don't worry…they'll behave…I made sure of it." He smiled around him at the girls and assured them everything was going to be okay…they would go home once they finished the trio, in the end they all nodded and smiled a bit.

"Now come on…group hug…"He grabbed Arith and Kimni's neck and hugged them tight. Aranell and Ayame were laughing out loud when Ayame gasped.

"OH NO…. THE EGGS!"

Ayame ran to the stove and quickly took out the eggs from the pan but they were all ready ugly and burnt. She starred sadly at her eggs and then threw them away half-heartedly. Aranell laughed and placed a hand over her shoulder.

"We still have pancakes!"

Everyone laughed and then all eyes went on Dante again. Kimni spoke, still looking at the four pancakes that were placed on her plate a bit hungrily, "Why is the article Albino idiot for kidnapping? It sounds like a job or something." Ayame and the rest were eating all ready and she lifted her index all nerdy style and gasped.

"Maybe this place shouldn't be called Devil May Cry after all, it should be called Albino Idiot's kidnap Agency!"

Everyone laughed except for Dante; he frowned and cleaned some milk from the top of his lips. "I thought you were sad?"

"We were…until we saw this article…"

"You know…" he waved his fork at Arith, pieces of pancake were falling to the plate under it. "In a way, you should be thanking me for kidnapping you because you wouldn't come willfully. If you hadn't come, the trio would have killed me, you and everyone else!"

It seemed the girls realized what he said was the stone cold truth. They were needed and they had to be brave. It was okay to feel fear but even cowardice has a limit. It seemed that they realized how important they were and here…minutes away from going to training sessions with Dante… the difference between a want and a need occurred. They were not wanted…they were needed. Everyone looked gloomy until Kimni broke the silence…

"So…the article should say…. Wanted: Albino Idiot for Kidnapping? You kidnap those who are needed?"

"Some super hero…" Laughed Arith. Dante gagged slightly and saw what they meant. "Hey I didn't…."

"But you did do it on purpose…you just said it. You kidnapped us on purpose just like you were stalking us on purpose. And it's obvious…you can't do a thing without us!" Dante was about to speak and then closed his mouth, putting his head on the table. "You're right…oh well."

They all laughed and finally Dante separated them in groups of two to begin the training. Kimni and Ayame were being led into a long corridor having for some reason said goodbye to Aranell and Arith. The feeling of up coming immense pain kept coming to them from the blood stained walls, or maybe it was the dim lights. The article kept flooding into Kimni's mind like a whirlpool and wasn't listening to anything Dante was saying. "Wanted: Albino Idiot for Kidnapping" that had a new meaning to everything now…to their existence. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all…. yeah right…


	9. Chapter 9

The Devil May Cry Agency was bigger then what it had seemed through the outside. Kimni and Ayame were standing in a large gym- looking room. Their books were on stands and sprout was on Kimni's book gurgling and murmuring in its language. Kimni walked to it and pet it gently showing her affection and asking the creature how had it gotten here and why it had lied it was asleep. Ayame starred at her oddly, obviously not being able to understand what Sprout was saying and shook her head nervously.

"Are you sure you can understand it? It sounds like a combination of Chewbacca and R2-D2."

Sprout growled slightly making a sort of flower on the top of its head rise, Ayame found this terrorizing. Kimni laughed and pet Sprout until the flower resided back to its back. Dante appeared seconds later wearing his red trench coat, black pants, no shirt, his boots, and a sword, Ayame starred at him quite as frightened as she was with Sprout. Kimni was pursing her lips and said nothing, Dante new it was his job to do the talking and the teaching so he enthusiastically clapped his hands and began.

"Well! Finally, the training will begin! You guys must be exited for being the first I train!"

Ayame and Kimni exchanged a small glance and both answered sarcastically… "Indeed." Dante didn't seem to catch this but quickly walked to them and started walking around them; giving the impression he was checking them out. Ayame pushed him away and walked backwards. "What the hell are you doing!" Dante snapped his fingers and grabbed her hand pulling her to a far wall. Ayame was shrieking and held on to Kimni, sprout starred at the trio gurgling with laughter. Dante got to a wall with a wine red drape and pulled a string to open the drapes leaving the girls to do nothing but gasp.

There were all sorts of swords, long swords, short swords, broken ones and fixed ones, Dante looked at Ayame and nodded. "You look like a sword person, pick one." Ayame and Kimni turned bewildered at Dante, awesome! Ayame went to check the swords out; she would pick one from the wall and then check it out. There was a nice blade with a dragon on the handle but it was too heavy, she almost fell forward because of the weight. Kimni laughed at her and was about to go and help her out when Dante stopped her hand in mid air, she gasped and turned to him, he was examining her hand and analyzing the way she had lifted her hand, when he was satisfied he dragged her to another covered wall. He opened it and behind it were num-chucks and different types of whips and scythes. "And you look like a num-chucks master!" He beckoned her to go ahead and choose. ." Kimni starred at all of them and then found that her true interest was in a black whip that looked like a vine off a tree. She took it out its holder and spread it out. Dante kept looking at her tentatively and walked to the wall beside her. "These num-chucks would really match that whip."

"We can have two weapons?"

"You can have as many as you want, the trick is to master both weapons equally. You got to balance it out see."

Kimni nodded and starred at the num-chucks Dante was talking about. The handles were strait out and were a deep green with the engravings of vines around it as well. The blades were not so long but still, they were sharp. She smiled and nodded, letting Dante get them down for her, "They are…nice."

"Nice, is that it?" Dante protested but Kimni just shrugged. Dante turned and walked to Ayame who had also picked out her weapon, it was a sword with the hilt in a shape of a water goddess and the blade itself seemed to shine like the surface of the water, with small ripples here and there, the blade was pure steel but it was enchanted in a way. Ayame just grinned happily and high fived Kimni.

Once they were ready with their weapon they turned to Dante, "what now?" Dante smiled and readied himself in attack stance. "Do what I do Ayame." Ayame got in the fighting stance. He walked forward and did an upward slice; she walked backwards and did the same. He then walked a bit more forward and did a diagonal slice from up going down, Ayame did this as well, he then sliced with the sword downward without removing the position of his hands strait, making it look like if h was going to melee someone. Ayame did this and then she laughed, "This simple ay?" Dante laughed and then attacked towards her.

"ONE!"

"AHHH!"

"TWO!"

"STOP IT YOU'RE GOING TO KILL ME!"

"THREE!"

"GAH!"

Kimni gasped, Ayame was standing there having had her eyes closed during the whole thing, but she had blocked all the attacks! Dante smiled and stood back proudly. "There you go, that easy." Ayame opened her eyes and starred around her then at her sword, "I did it." She turned to Dante and then went to attack him with the same moves she had learned and had used in the blocking. Kimni laughed and clapped proudly, "That's the ticket!" Once they were finished Dante turned to Kimni, "Ok, Kimni, which weapon would you like to master first?"

Kimni thought about it and shrugged not knowing which to pick. Dante smiled and went to the wall and got some num- chucks too. " If you ask me, the whip will be your main weapon and the chucks will be your secondary weapon. Let's get the secondary weapon out of the way first."

"Wait a minute…shouldn't we do the whip first since it is the most important?" Kimni said looking down at the whip she held. Dante nodded and spoke a bit nerdish. " Actually, the whip will take longer then the chucks and I don't want Ayame to get bored. Remember, we still have Arith and Aranell to learn their stuff, don't get greedy." Dante grinned and ruffled her hair slightly she just groaned and shook his hand away. "Get away, Albino Idiot." Dante just laughed.

"Do what I do. Num-chucks are very important weapons and have a lot to give the person who wealds some of these babies. We are going to do a few blocking stances and attacks." He started messing with the num-chucks and Kimni starred in vain knowing she was never going to get this. Ayame was still messing with her sword and left Kimni alone there starring regretfully at Dante. Once he finished, he turned to her and grinned. "Now you do that."

Kimni blinked and starred at the num-chucks _I'm going to make a complete fool of myself,_ she thought. Slowly and gently she started swinging the stupid num-chucks and they slipped out of her hands. Dante starred at the fallen num-chucks and laughed. "Ok, babe. Let's start from the beginning. Hold them out like this…good, now flip THIS side to THAT side and catch it… good. Now do it faster and switching sides…no, no don't outstretch your hands all the way because you won't be able to catch them…good."

Kimni was doing her best, for some reason her hands had become sweaty and she was having a hard time concentrating on catching the stupid ends. Over all, she was doing pretty well, Dante smiled and made her stop. "Okay, now, what I taught you right now, you can use that to intimidate your opponent and freak them out, you know, get them confused as to the point where they don't know how you're going to attack. When you do this, walk forward towards your enemy and do this…BANG!" He was flipping the num-chucks around like he had taught her and walked forward making Kimni start to worry as to if he was ACTUALLY going to hit her. He was going and going until, when he said BANG he brought the num chucks out of the continuous flipping and brought it slicing upward quickly, the air echoing as it sliced through it, and flipped it over behind his back. Kimni had fallen back because of the shock and starred at Dante surprised. "I want to learn that!" Dante grinned proudly, dusting away invisible dust from his shoulders, "Yes well, there is a reason why I'm a.k.a the master."

Kimni raised an eyebrow. "Who calls you that?" Dante looked at her and seeing as to she wasn't falling for it, just coughed and walked to Ayame to teach her a bit. Kimni starred forward at a wall that was of pure mirrors and started messing with the num- chucks again trying to slice it as he had done, but hit her collar bone quite painfully over and over again.

Ayame was flipping her sword over her hand until it finally fell; Dante picked it up for her. "I see what you are trying to do, here's a tip. When you feel it reach your other side of the palm, flip your hand and elevate it slightly so that not only can it be in attack ready but it will be easier to catch it." Ayame nodded and tried what he had said, after two tries she finally got it right. She beamed proudly and fixed her glasses all sophisticated style. Dante laughed and clapped his hands. "Okay, water goddess, let's see more attack techniques learned. I want you to practice some movements so that later, we can do them together. Here…stand in front of the mirror." He took out his own sword after he tossed the num chucks aside and looked at her through the mirror. "Ok, do what I do." He started swinging and shifting holding on to see if she did them right. Once in a while he would call out a tip or say a comment on how good she did it. When he thought she was more then ready with these techniques she made her stand looking at him in attack position. "Great, now, you know the moves I just showed you? I will be attacking you now, don't worry; I won't hit you if you forget to block. Try blocking mine; I will call out the names of the attacks which are more useful and where I will be attacking. Take notice of my body movements to better understand how to find out which directions your enemy will strike and move next." Ayame nodded and waited.

His first attack was low, as he called it out, she blocked. Next he was going to attack as a slice, he called out the movement, blocking stance, in which you bend your knee and block the attack from under, making it vulnerable for you to push the sword out of the enemies hands. It went on like this for an hour or two and Kimni was still messing with her num-chucks looking at the two. Slowly and more gradually, Dante picked up the speed making Ayame hesitate a bit less and quicken her steps. Once in a while, Dante would call Ayame to move position because staying in the same place can be used against you. After what seemed forever Ayame collapsed on the floor and starred gasping a Dante. "I kicked butt, didn't I." Dante smiled and laughed helping her up and tossing her a water bottle form a nearby table. He turned to Kimni who was now soothing her aching chest, it was an odd sight with her doubled over and holding her neck as if she was chocking. Dante went to her and raised her face a bit. "Yeah…that happens in the beginning." She smiled and then pushed him away moving forward with the same flips, but a bit more accurate, fast, and no mistakes what so ever. When she was a few feet away from him, she sliced it through the air and brought it flipping behind her back and finished the combo in a blocking ending.

"It's worth it."

Dante clapped and so did Ayame, Kimni just blushed and turned sideways. "I think I broke a bone though." She soothed her upper chest again and then got ready for another lesson.

This time, Dante was going to teach her how to block using the num-chucks. Kimni stood before him with her num-chucks held diagonally, somehow, it was pretty hard blocking because one had the fear of having your fingers squashed. Just as Dante promised, he was going easy on her and corrected her here and there. Kimni wasn't so uptight anymore and had loosened up slightly. Now she sometimes cursed under her breath or held a solid conversation with Dante. Even though the conversation was mostly about this, Kimni could tell this was a bit of an awkward thing. The day they had stopped to see the sunrise flew into her head and then the airplane where the flight attendant appeared _"You know you like it"_ echoed Dante's voice in her head.

"YOU KNOW YOU LIKE IT, DOUBLE UNDER BLOCKAGE COMBO WITH A SPIN!"

There was a hard smack and a deep thud as Kimni went falling to the ground clutching her arm in pain. _So it wasn't in my head…how could I be so stupid!_ She thought as both Dante and Ayame helped her sit up. Ayame was screaming at Dante angrily for some reason and Kimni could only hear but not understand for the pain from her hand was intensifying by the second.

"YOU SAID YOU'D GO EASY ON HER!"

"I WAS GOING EASY ON HER! SHE WAS DAYDREAMING!"

"YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T HURT US IF WE FORGOT TO BLOCK!"

"I TALK ALT OF SHIT SOMETIMES, OKAY!"

There was an odd silence as Dante and Ayame starred at each other with complete malice. Finally Kimni groaned and came back to her senses. "My arm hurts"

"I know, I think the Albino Idiot broke it."

"It isn't broken look." He held on to her arm and moved it slightly, making Kimni shriek in pain once more and bite her lips trying to keep the tears away. Dante looked at Kimni then at Ayame.

"Ok…so I did brake it. I didn't mean it, you know that, right Kimni?"

"I'll call a hospital."

"We don't need a hospital, she needs a vital star."

"A what, what?" Ayame starred at Dante credulously as he rummaged through his coat pockets. Kimni glared angrily at Dante and screamed in alert. "There are no vital stars you idiot! Ouch!" Dante frowned and helped her up. He examined it for a while and then he spoke out loud happily. "Great! This is a perfect time to use those books of yours and find a healing spell or crap like that." Ayame ran to the books and brought hers and Kimni', both were looking for the healing page but no good. Finally Ayame gasped and fund the right page, "Look guys here it is…. here it says, 'Blessed waters healing chant'… sounds scary." Kimni was having a hard time for she could only use one hand; Dante was holding her up letting her rest on him. Finally she found the page and spoke with a tone that she would pass out any minute. "Healings without Herbs: Chants. Well…self explanatory, don't you think?" Kimni's head rolled sideways and Dante caught her before her whole body slammed unto the floor. Ayame started reading the page rapidly and found what she needed.

"Okay…this is what it says…_In order to …err…thingamajig the person one must concentrate your body and mind to the person. A part of your stamina will be transferred to heal any maladies or injuries that have occurred to the person you will be healing…._ In other words yeah I get it." Dante looked at Ayame a bit confused and shrugged, he was feeling bad now for what happened to Kimni. "Okay…then do your stuff."

Ayame blinked and turned to the Kimni's body a bit confused. "I don't get how I am suppose to 'Concentrate my powers' on the victim…and the chant…what happens if I say it wrong?" Dante growled slightly and shifted himself slightly so the Kimni wouldn't look so uncomfortable, "Just try it!" Ayame frowned and then closed her eyes thinking of the chant in her head, she was giving up hope for almost 15 minutes had passed and no luck or sign had appeared telling her that Kimni was better until her hands glowed blue, they were a few inches on top of Kimni's arm and something that looked like glitter was falling down slowly and gracefully on Kimni's arm but disappeared immediately when it touched the skin. Dante starred a bit amazed and appalled. Finally Ayame stopped and sighed angrily looking down at Kimni with great disappointment. "I'm sorry Kimni I tried…it didn't work."

"Hu?"

Both Dante and Ayame jumped when Kimni spoke, she jerked slightly and raised herself to the point where she was leaning on Dante anymore, she looked at her arm then she looked at Ayame. "Did I pass out?"

"Yep"

"Wow…and you did this?"

Ayame starred at Kimni frightened and then turned to Dante giving him an interrogative glance, he grinned and nodded his head. "You did it Ayame…but next time. I don't think you have to close your eyes. Like that you know…you can see?" Kimni looked at Dante and then at Ayame a bit bemused. "You closed your eyes and that is why you couldn't see?"

"I WAS CONCENTRATING!"

Kimni and Dante laughed slightly and finally they all stood up, giving Kimni some help for she still felt a bit weak from the shock. They reached the main hall and there was no sign of Arith or Aranell. Ayame and Kimni were heading with their weapons to their bedroom slowly. Dante stopped them and squinted his eyes towards them.

"Do you know where the other two are?"

Kimni and Ayame looked at each other and guessed the same thing…

"They're hiding."

Out of nowhere from the first floor came a sound of a pan falling and a door slam shut. Dante groaned and turned to go downstairs. "I guess I have babes to find. No hard feelings Kimni?" He walked off before he had gotten an answer from her. Ayame and Kimni looked behind him, Kimni sighed heavily no hard feelings. Ayame laughed slightly to herself and spoke out mockingly. "Arith and Aranell are so going to get their ass kicked.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10:**

"That is the last time I trust you Arith…never again…"

"Don't blame it on me, you where the one that started sneezing!"

"I DON'T LIKE DUST UP MY NOSE!"

Both Aranell and Arith where squirming to rip each other's head off but Dante had tied them each to a chair and it were impossible to do such thing. They were standing in the same gym looking room that Kimni and Ayame had been in. Not only was the size of the room scary, they were more scared of the fact that Dante was angry at them, Arith cursed under her breathe as she shifted position on the chair…the ropes around them were tight…it seemed he didn't realize the stomach and the chest of a girl are not the same height. Her gaze turned to Aranell and she was having the same dilemma, she gave her a glance of helplessness and spoke almost in tears. "This is torture…"

When she said this Dante came into the room and looked at the two girls a bit angrily, he took out his sword and walked to Aranell. "Now you know what the consequences are for running away, right?" With a slight slash of his sword he tore the bonds that held the ropes, Aranell fell to the floor finally being able to breath, she gave Dante an angry glance.

"Being tied to a chair with the ropes to the point one can't breath?"

Dante nodded sadly, Aranell jerked her head away and held her chest. "Just because they're big…"

Dante then walked to Arith and stood in front of her studying her face, she glared back and spoke with gritted teeth. "You better watch yourself buddy, because where I come from, abuse towards ladies is paid with rocks and stones." Dante grunted and walked to Aranell again.

"HEY COME BACK HERE…TAKE THIS CRAP OFF ME!"

Dante turned slightly towards her and spoke coolly. "Where I come from, one must fight for their freedom. Get yourself out." She starred hurt at him and frowned staying there for a while. Aranell stood up and shrugged looking at Dante's hurt face, it seemed he didn't want to do that to Arith, he just whispered. "Discipline is the first thing one must learn." Aranell just nodded and breathed in deeply one last time, slowly she raised her hands slightly and fixed her shirt for the ropes had disfigured it, Dante was looking at her thoughtfully and this freaked her out, she quickly put her hands down with lightning speed.

"What?"

Dante saw this and nodded to him self leading her to a draped wall; it was next to where the num-chucks had been and he pulled the curtains open showing a wide variety of bowed daggers, she just starred up at them amazed.

"I think you would do good with them, I see you have good reflexes." Aranell turned to him and nodded looking at which was the best for her, Dante stayed back letting her choose when he realized it was quiet, he turned his head to where Arith was but…. the chair was empty and the ropes where on the floor.

"What the…"

"Hu?" Aranell turned to look at Dante.

"Wow…these are real cool…what the hell do you call these albino idiot?" Both Aranell and Dante turned and saw Arith standing right next to Aranell trying to reach some short bowed daggers but couldn't so she gave up, she looked at them like if nothing had happened, which caught Dante off guard.

"I thought I left you tied up."

"You thought…. you thought, see that is the problem. It's Arith you tied down…a few ropes won't pull me down, and discipline my ycc, it's called respect and if I remember I lost my respect towards you when you almost killed me not once…not twice…but a lot of times." Dante starred at her and couldn't help but feel impressed in how quiet and effective her sneaking up was. "You're right…by the way, how did you do that?" Arith just grinned and dusted away invisible dust. "A magician does not reveal her secrets." Aranell laughed and nodded agreeing. Dante shook his head and lead Arith to another covered wall with drapes leaving Aranell to the choosing. He didn't think any of the other weapons would suite Arith for she had fast hands and feet, the curtains opened and all sorts of arranged staffs were there. Dante didn't even have to tell her what to do she just examined them. While both girls were looking for a weapon he took this time to walk to the chair where Arith had been. He examined the ropes…not cut…but I made sure to make the knots real tight… He pondered on this for a while and just kneeled there on the floor starring at the end of the uncut rope as if forcing it mentally to reveal its secrets…

"Starring at the rope won't make it cut itself and it won't tell you how I did it either." Dante raised his head and looked as Arith and Aranell were both standing with weapons at hand starring down at him, he stood up and held the rope putting it to one side. "I don't get it…not even I can get out of that…believe me I tried I had to walk upstairs to find a small knife with the chair too." Arith sighed and smiled. "If you want, I can teach you to get out of anything…my mind is good at making escape plans, right Aranell?" Arith spoke proudly; Aranell just looked at her with a bit of mock.

"Yeah…she is good all right, but ask her if they always work…they don't." She was referring to the incident of the hiding plan and that of when 'the heat' ((Mrs. Heater)) was after them. Arith frowned and shook her head hurt, "You always have to blow out my fire, right?" Aranell laughed and hugged Arith apologizing. "I love you okay?" Arith nodded and giggled, Dante laughed himself remembering what Arith meant about 'blow out my fire' and finally walked to the wall and took some bowed daggers.

"Aranell, I shall start with you… you do know how to hold these right?"

Aranell was all ready one-step ahead of him taking up the fighting stance with the weapon Dante nodded and grinned. " Okay…okay…so you've used one of these before, babe?"

Aranell nodded shyly. "I use to have some but then my mom took them out. These are my favorite weapons." Dante nodded giving her the face of 'Is- that- so?' He then started showing her how to block and to keep the swords in a way where she could move her hands and wrists at times without causing her self harm. Arith was looking at them all interested and once in a while screamed her cheers. By the time they knew it, Aranell was all ready learning attack techniques and blocking when Dante attacked her. After 2 hours or so Dante finally stopped and clapped at Aranell. "I must say…. you are the fastest learner I have met. But maybe it's because you all ready had experience." Aranell bowed and cheered. She walked towards Arith who was sitting next to sprout on a table and dozing off, Sprout was over her lap snoring soundly. Dante frowned and walked to her with Aranell behind him still laughing. Arith Jerked slightly and raised her head from leaning on the staff and looked at Dante and Aranell's grin, Dante just spoke sweetly and extended his arm.

"Not enough sleep, sleeping beauty?" Dante spoke with mock, Arith just looked at him reproachfully and yawned. "You two have been practicing for 5 hours strait, I was getting tired of standing…" She popped her neck and then moved Sprout aside taking Dante's hand; he got her to her feet and took a staff himself leading her to the middle of the room. He turned to her and grinned. "All right then, I'll make it up to you, I will train with you 5 hours as well." Arith stopped and starred at him horrified, WHY MUST YOU TORTURE ME SO!" Dante laughed and then, with a quick jerk of his wrist flipped the staff as if it were made of feather.

"Now, we start your training. First, I shall teach you some blocking methods. I will test you as we start to progress to the next stage." Arith nodded and took her staff, feeling it's weight…it wasn't heavy. She then stopped and thought this is just like the cheerleading days she gave a slight shiver and nodded once more doing what Dante told her to do. First, Dante would point out moves and give her tips as to what block would be most effective and how to counter them. Arith, so far was getting the hand of it but she realized, and Dante did too, she shacked to much so that when she would try to change block by spinning she would make it bounce on her wrist accidentally and send it higher into the air then intended giving her enemy a clean shot. At one of these occasions Dante had jabbed his staff into one of her sides making her stagger sideways in pain.

"OUCH THAT HURT IDIOT!"

"GAH…I'M SORRY…"

He remembered Kimni's injury and frowned looking sideways at Arith. She was clutching her side and with pure anger took up her staff and stood in front of him, Dante just blinked really confused.

"Weren't you err…angry at…"

"Shut up. I didn't want to do this but now I am going to give you my own techniques." Arith said through gritted teeth, she grabbed the staff and twisted it making the red jewel on the top shine red as it bounced the light off of it. Dante laughed once more and got ready going on with it. Arranell had been quiet sitting beside sprout looking at the two, she had stood up in total fear when she heard Arith's cry of pain. She stood a few feet away from them both. They were looking at each other as if they would want nothing more but each other's death…

"Guys…"

"Your techniques? Well, well, what are you going to do…bitch slap me? Because I make it a rule not to hit girls." Dante spoke mockingly flexing his muscles, Arith stopped and rolled her eyes. "Listen Idiot…for your information, you just made a super big contradiction and just added to your all ready big stupidity. You have hurt me without me hurting you back. I almost died, you kidnapped me, the skit mark of society… now I pay back. And I don't bitch slap…I punch." She ran forward with the staff and Dante blocked her attacks. Aranell was shouting at them and cursing them, the other two just kept going at it. Finally came a part where Dante had messed up and dropped to the floor. Arith twirled the staff and pointed it at him.

"Three years of cheerleading. I didn't become obsessed with mini skirts and boys, but I sure as hell learned how to use a baton…and to twirl a flag and such." She looked sideways trying to remember, Dante grabbed her staff and pushed her to the ground pinning her. Aranell gasped angrily and ran to him.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING PERVERT!"

"I'm sick and tired of your immaturity!"

"MY immaturity? You're the one who got us into this mess."

"I didn't…"

"YES YOU DID DO IT ON PURPOSE…"Arith spoke now in tears. Aranell was looking down at them both, Dante had her staff pulling her neck up and was pinning her with his less. She closed her eyes and opened them again looking up into the ceiling. "I'm scared… I almost died, Dante. I felt myself die…it was cold and I realized how much more I needed to live for. I want to reconcile myself with my parents, you know. I want to tell them I love them again, go out to eat with them and stay up all night playing Halo with my brother. I couldn't help but realize what you said was true. If we wouldn't have come…the trio would have destroyed everything…" Dante was looking down at her and lightened the push of the staff on her neck; Aranell had sat down next to Arith also in tears.

"I know how you feel, Arith. Even though I would have given everything back then to get out of the house…. now, I want to go back. It isn't the same."

Dante sat up and helped Arith up; she had stopped crying and was now sobbing once in a while. It seemed he had never realized the importance of family. Vergil, the only one alive hated his guts, Dante also wanted him dead. He found himself speaking without knowing, "You know I don't have a family. I don't have a father…"

"But you…" Started Aranell to protest.

"I don't have a father." Dante repeated sternly, Aranell hushed. "My twin brother and I want each other dead and the only one I could say I ever loved was my mother…" He was looking at Arith sadly. "Look at me. I claim my vengeance on my own kind. You are doing the same. The trio are normal humans, like you they can die. Only thing is that they have powers that they took no doubt. I might not understand completely the feeling of loss you people feel but…I'm sorry." In a way it was his fault that they were taken from their families and friends. Of course they would be back but Dante had to ask himself did I do this for my benefit without thinking about the guardians? Dante closed his eyes and bowed his head knowing to well the answer to that question and being ashamed. Aranell looked at Dante and put her hand on his shoulder knowing that he was blaming him self. "Come on Dante. Don't blame yourself. This was a must and I'm pretty sure that along with Arith and I, don't blame you for taking us away from home. The trio is here so we have to be here and kill them. I mean…if we look at the bright side…this is quite an adventure, wouldn't you think?" She smiled shyly and Dante nodded slightly still feeling angry at himself for being so naïve. Before he could do anything Arith had turned and hugged him. This was a very odd thing for Dante for it had been her to start the fight. She heard her sobs and then she spoke. "I'm sorry Dante…I was just mad…mmkay?" Dante nodded and didn't know what else to do but hug her. Aranell then joined in and hugged them both.

Dante knew in that moment he wouldn't think of his safety but of theirs. The guardians were his responsibility and he was intent and correcting his wrongs. Of course, he had suffered to get this far in life but he didn't want that for them. Some might cal it honor, others might call it fatherly. Dante called it 'his job'.


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11**

Future was standing on the balcony of their hideout and was deep in thought on trying to find an explanation for the occurrences that had come to pass most recently. For one thing, how in the world could the Sparda twins be fighting on the same side, did their family feud end? This was some disappointing news to him for he had great plans for using them to his advantage. All though Dante didn't seem to be such a threat, it was Vergil he feared the most. Not only was he powerful, he knew to much for his own good, it struck Future odd that it wasn't Vergil training the guardians. Either way, the girls were good. As though his hand had a mind of its own it started twitching once more for he hadn't completely recovered from the burns. With a soft sigh he turned from the starry sky and walked down the steps into the room.

Their hideout was the alcove of a high abandoned church tower. No one had stepped into the church for what seemed 4 years, which was when they had started, shall I say…'moving in'. Not only was this the perfect hideout in the fact that no one in his or her right minds could suspect such a place for mass murder to break loose, it had the perfect view in all of New Jersey. While other buildings were blocked from seeing the moon by other buildings, that single balcony made you feel like the king of the heavens, something he had always fantasized about. The main room was this one, it had 3 desks with books and papers everywhere on the walls neatly organized. At the moment two of the three desks were occupied by his allies past and present, they both were looking for as much information on the elemental guards as they could find, the search wasn't going well. From what few sources they had the only way to find something a hundred percent positive of the subject was to steal the books pertaining to each guardian…but they were impossible to read! Not only was it not in English, it was made so that only the guardian could understand it. He gave a quick glance to an empty book holder where the book of the Guardian of Air had once been. Now, thanks to his stupidity they had lost the book and were back to nothing. This led to his other question.

Why had he been so hesitant? A few seconds of hesitation led to their plan to fall in complete ruin. They were supposed to sneak in there and kill them in their sleep but something went wrong even before he was discovered.

_But that girl_, he thought remembering Aranell when she was asleep, _why couldn't I kill her, why was I so hesitant?_ Truth was that this was the thing that made him frightened among everything else. Future could not have a weakness, especially not when he felt the weakness with one of his own enemies. But what was this weakness he felt, it was that weakness that grabbed your throat and clogged it so as to barely being able to breath, the feeling that stops your heart from beating for a second and once it starts again you want it to stop beating for the anxiety you have stored in your chest. This miserable curse, which was now upon Future, was driving him mad, never had he felt such a thing and, like any person would act towards an unknown virus or disease, he was slightly scared. Shaking his head slightly he turned to Present who had emitted a loud sigh.

"I don't get it Future, we aren't going to find anything on them." He said rubbing his orange eyes hopping to get rid of the sleep.

"Presents right man, they don't exist in these stories or myths or whatever the heck they are." His purple eyes seemed watery and a black eye was forming on his left eye. Future walked to them and scratched his dark red hair, yawning. "All right, we'll give it a rest then. I need to think for a while." Present frowned and turned to Future walking to stand beside him. "Don't feel bad because the plan didn't work out. We know it wasn't our fault." Future raised an eyebrow at him and then to Past. With a nod past started explaining.

"It seemed that they were already tipped off. There were two people awake. Dante and the Guardian of Fire. Before we entered through the door Dante and Vergil were waiting for us. We got ambushed, don't you see! Vergil Sparda is the one to blame, how can he find out our movements before we make them?"

Future started pacing along the room a bit interested at this new theory and could think of many reasons why this theory was right. With a slight glance at the moon out the window he turned to them. "I see… I conquer with this hypothesis; all we need to do now is the experiment to see if it's right. All though Vergil may be strong and 'all- so- powerful' he has never tried going against us up- and- personal, he knows his limits. On the other hand, he does have brains. If I am correct, we just found the reason why the Sparda twins are working together all of a sudden." Past and Present stood looking a future a bit confused but gasped once they realized that it was true.

"Vergil woke up the Guardian of Fire so she could wake the other Guardians up. Then he tipped off his brother!"

"Yeah, all Vergil wants is to finish us off or…" Past stopped.

"Make us finish Dante off. Either way, he won't let the guardians be harmed, he knows they are the only ones who have a chance against us." Future spoke now stepping on the balcony and looking up into the starry sky once more. It seemed they were confronted by a problem that, if they take it into consideration, will be befitting them. One thing was certain, the Sparda twins had to be eliminated, but how, Vergil new better but Dante. If they killed Dante, Vergil would probably take the job of training the girls or just lead them. Either way, they would get stronger. Could there be such a way as to make Vergil become an enemy of the girls? This was a tricky thing indeed; a characteristic that Vergil did not lack was he could be a good hypocrite when it was needed. Maybe once them three were dead, he would go on killing the girls so that only he could be powerful. That gave Future an idea.

"I got a plan. We will have to be stalking the guardians, and when I mean stalking, Past, I don't mean peering through their bathroom windows." Past growled angrily and pushed Present away who was now poking him out of sheer mock. Future hesitated and sighed heavily remembering what had happened with that Guardian of Wind. Once more he was going into a daydream, which consisted of that girl flying around as a beautiful fairy that, at the moment she's about o kiss him, he takes her and rips her head of…amongst other things. As the 'vivid' dream of his continued, Past poked him and starred grinning at him knowing what it was he was thinking about.

"So, I'm not aloud to look in through the bathroom windows?"

"Step off…" Future growled, his face almost matching the color of his hair. " Yeah keep talking like that and I'll turn you into an old man…. then no girl will ever like you, you perverted son of a…"

"Water."

Both Future and Past turned to look at Present, he had a distant but serious look about his face. "The Guardian of Water seemed to me was…err…"

Past walked to him and poked him once more laughing out loud, his broad shoulders raised triumphantly and squared. "Seems this fool has a thing for the water goddess… I don't know I like the feisty ones you know, and the innocent. Seems Earth goddess and the Fire demon are mine to keep, eh?" The three boys started pushing each other with a few sparks here and there until Present went back to the subject. "I was talking about how she was giving the orders. The 'Fire demon' asked for her opinion and so did the rest. And didn't you here them calling her," Here he made a high pitched girlish voice, " 'OH FEARLESS LEADER!' " Past laughed at this but Future had raised his head and starred at them both… Present was right.

Why hadn't he seen this? Present was known among the three to be the brains of the group, also the one with the plans. If it were true that the Guardian of Water was actually the leader, then they would have to keep an eye on her especially. Before he could say anything, the other to were bragging about what boy had actually gotten close enough to touch them and who kicked who's butt. Future stayed quiet and starred back out of the window, his red eyes perusing the starry sky as if some sign would appear to tell him the answers he wanted. One thing was for sure, Vergil should be eliminated and so will Dante…but later. They couldn't destroy the girls, they would have to stalk them like he had said before, then they would know how to attack…. finally the world would be there's and will be destroyed just like they planned.

He lifted his hand as it glowed red and smiled feeling the glow on his face. " Soon the world will be free of lies and hate…. only hope and goodness would exist." Future of course was ignoring what Past was saying at the moment, for he had the power to read people's minds.

"PROCREATION MAN! WE NEED CHICKS! PROCREATION!"

Kimni was holding onto Dante's hand feeling it shaking and sweaty in her grip. Even though she wanted to let go, she knew she shouldn't or else he'd run back to the car and they would be left alone with no money. She glanced sideways to the other side of Dante and Arith was smiling happily as if she had never had this much fun, her knuckles were white where she was holding on to his hand. After the long and quite formal ping from the closing slide doors behind them, Arith's cool and girlish voice came from beside Dante with a sort of cheer. "You see Dante, the grocery store isn't that bad, so now take a step and we can begin shopping."

The grocery store wasn't as big as the Wal-Mart the girls went to back in the Valley but it was cozy and seemed to have everything they needed. Dante wasn't taking this the right way; he said they were being to controlling by bringing him here. The truth was he had never really stepped foot inside a grocery before…pizza was his life. But recently, Arith had had an accident and it was mandatory to go to a store and buy 'necessity's'. Ayame had also seen that they were running out of eggs and Dante said this was a good excuse to buy TV dinners.

"Okay, so…err…we need a cart right?" Dante's voice sounded like a small shriek.

"Right! You push the cart, we'll put what is good for us in it." Kimni stated happily now holding onto his whole arm in case he ran for it. At once Arith started looking around seeing which plan would work out. "Okay, I suppose we should start from one side of the store and work our way to the other, no?" The girls nodded and finally Dante calmed down and trudged along behind them pushing the rackety shopping cart. There were hardly any people and this made it easy for them, they made their way to the fruits and vegetables and took what they needed. Aranell was placing some broccoli in a bag when Dante poked her side and whispered a bit amused. "What the hell is that?"

"Broccoli." Aranell answered not taking any notice of him.

"You eat that? Does that go on a pizza or something?"

"How stupid can you be!" Ayame's hand came smacking the back of his head, he cursed and growled at her. "I was curious!" Ayame said nothing but continued by getting tomatoes. Finally, after the hostility between the two had cooled down they went from isle to isle. Paper plates, cereal, you wanted it, it went into the cart. Finally they were at the Asian food section where there was…

"POCKY!"

"What the hell is up with you! Stop screaming!" Dante growled turning to the group of girls now starring amazed at some red cardboard boxes. With a frown he walked toward them and starred, reading the box.

"Pocky."

"Uh-hum…not just any Pocky…. strawberry!" Kimni shrieked. Dante looked at her with pure disbelief then turned and leaned on the cart starring at the spaghetti. "Whatever." He started pushing the cart and examining the prices of the tomato sauces while the girls went about looking for what they needed. Once in a while they would have a debate where one wanted something but the other didn't like it so they would have to make up a sort of deal so as not to waste Dante's money. Dante, on the other hand, just frowned and shrugged. "Listen babes, you are my saviors, you are my cooks, and you are my girls…. abuse the charm you have over me." When he said this he'd lift his hands into the air in sweet surrender and then hug one or two of them, they couldn't help but blush with his pampering. Lastly, they were passing the beauty section and going to the cash registers when Dante stopped and waited. Ayame was the one who realized he had stopped and looked at him suspiciously.

"What's up with you? Now you want to stay?"

"Oh no! He has become addicted to shopping!" The girls giggled but hushed at his smirk. With a swift of his hair he nodded towards the beauty section and shrugged. "You don't have to hide it, go and buy your crap so we can leave."

The girl's looked uneasily towards the accursed section of the store, the isles were covered with samples of lipstick and eyeliners…. mostly all used. They all shuddered and shook their heads. "It's all right…I'm not into that." Ayame stammered.

"Neither am I."

"That's the Devil's corner yo…

"Yes you are!"

"Shut up!"

Dante stared at them confused, it seems he had prejudged them yet again but actually found it like a blessing that they weren't so girly, though, just to try them out he grabbed a shaving kit and threw it at Arith. "You need that."

Arith starred at it and glared angrily at him. "What the Hell is your problem! I do not need this! My legs are pretty at the moment you pervert!" she tossed it back to him angrily. Dante blinked. "Wow…someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed…" At this, Arith gasped as if remembering something. She whispered something into Kimni's ear and ran into an isle leaving the girls with Dante, a few moments of awkward silence passed until Kimni told them too go to a line and wait for Arith. Just as they were about to pay and Kimni was totally ticked off because of the seductive stares Dante was giving the cashier girl, Arith arrived out of breath and placed two packages of…

"What the hell is that? When I say abuse me, I meant buy stuff that are useful for everyone… like food!" Dante frowned and shook his head angrily starring at the packages.

"We need them."

"Really? For what?"

Arith was a bit red and all the girls, including the cashier, were starring at her as if she was going to reply the secret of life. She was alone in this so a half- demon knowing the truth wouldn't make much difference would it?

"This…is a pad. Girls use it because we have to. I'm pretty sure you know where babies come from."

Dante was looking at her a bit bemused not understanding why that was connected to the three-letter word. For a brief period he bit his bottom lip and then straightened himself up very serious and grave.

"Female condom? Why the hell would you want to buy that!"

At that precise moment even the cashier walked forward and hit him. Dante was cowering backwards using the package as a shield and growled angrily throwing them all a nasty look. Kimni was the one closest to him and was still hitting him with closed fist. "How could you think of us doing that!"

"What makes you think I know what this is!"

"Arith explained quite clearly!"

"Gah, stop it!" He threw her the bag and moved back fixing both his hair and his trench coat. With a slight sigh he walked cautiously back and took the bag starring at the instructions. "Explain to me. I don't buy what I don't know."

Ayame was about to protest to his small conundrum but Aranell stopped her whispering "Not now…" Arith sighed and felt her face go red. "Honestly Dante…. you don't know what this is…" He shook his head and Arith sighed placing in on the check out register. "I'll explain when I get home."

"No." He grabbed her arm and whispered something into her ear. She pursed her lips and then laughed.

"NO YOU IDIOT! THEY AREN'T FOR YOU!"

Dante stood back a bit shocked she screamed it out loud. Arith then had to tiptoe in order to reach his ear and, threw winces and coughs, Dante found out the curse of all living females. During this, Aranell had managed to steal his wallet and was now paying the groceries; Ayame, Kimni, and the young cashier were looking attentively at Arith and Dante. It was odd…his face had a concentrated look toward it then it converted to complete horror. Once in a while he'd make a gagging sound or he would laugh…which gave him a punch from Arith. Once the lecture was done Arith, looking ashamed as if she had just spoiled a secret, stood back with her eyes closed.

"There you go. I have just opened your mind to questions." Dante was looking at her and then at all the other girls. Without knowing it he screamed out "GROUP HUG" and grabbed everyone, even the cashier into a tight hug. "I didn't know you went through so much pain for us guys!" Ayame, who had a clean whiff of his armpit moved slightly in order to talk. "Okay Dante… good to know you also think guys are idiots. Now let go! You smell like OLD SPICE!" He did and even the cashier was blushing at the gratitude. Dante was grinning happily and took Kimni and Aranell by the arm. "Just for that…I shall buy you another pack!"

"Oh gee…how very thoughtful." Kimni spoke through gritted teeth. She didn't like the topic of this chat. It was really out of place considering that once the groceries were in the car and everyone was inside, it was very quite…. even Dante seemed not to get over the shock of reality. Before anyone broke the silence he turned to them biting his thumb.

"So, if a girl and an other girl…. you know…or even two guys, will one of them get…"

"NO!" all the girls screamed out at once and Arith slapped her forehead in complete exhaustion. "Did you not hear what the hell I was saying?"

"Sort off…why do girls have eggs, I thought us men had…"

"OH MY GOD!" Kimni quickly covered her ears and started singing to the Fayth Final Fantasy (Or the temple whatever it's called) song out loud. Both Aranell and Arith had lunged forward to the front seat trying to punch the life out of Dante; Ayame was in the back laughing her butt of repeating. "WE HAVE EGGS, WE HAVE EGGS!"

"How could you say that pervert!" Aranell had started punching his shoulder hard ignoring the rocking figure on the passenger seat.

"I'm going to make you sterile!" Arith had taken to punching his other shoulder and trying to kick him where it hurt, Dante protected him self and laughing out loud.

"Get off me, I know you want me but one at a time!"

"NUMA NUMA!" Frances kept singing louder and louder now rocking back and forth starring at the group and slightly giggling.

A few people passed the car and shook their heads seeing how violently the car was shaking. With sighs of relief, considering the window tints of the car were pitch black, they moved on pulling their children away from the car. Out of nowhere a window opened and a distant scream echoed through the parking lot making a few people turn and stare…

"WE GOT EGGS! WE GOT ATLEAST 5,000 EGGS!"

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yeah…I know we went over the 'how many fetal eggs a girl gets but I couldn't remember. I also thought that Ayame, who goes to sci-tech :P wouldn't know the number…. correct me if I'm wrong people.))


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12**

It was now approximately 3 days of being housed at the Devil May cry Agency and the girls were finally becoming accustomed to the new way of life. There wasn't that odd silence where everyone looked at each other and, after hours, started laughing then and there, it was different, one could even say it felt more like home. The girls didn't wake up all freaked out about their surroundings, now it was just all the same as if they had been here for ages. Arith was the one who had quickly adapted to everything, she was the one who started all the jokes and, along with Dante, made the place cheery and just like home. At the moment Dante and Arith were having a round of Pictionary where Kimni, slightly red in the face and trying to push the paper that Arith was pushing into her face, was shrieking all freaked out.

"Come on Kimni, what does it look like?" Arith said as she stretched across the floor table they were using with a wide mocking grin on her face.

"GET IT AWAY FROM ME!" Kimni shrieked poking her away. Dante was blocking most of the pokes that were directed at Arith and was laughing at her as well. "Calm down babe, it's only a jackhammer…"

"Yeah…" Arith smirked shaking her index finger at Dante as if scolding him. "With round edges and weird pen marks on it." Arith Giggled and Dante high fived her. "I SUCK AT DRAWING WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT!" He shouted back laughing. Kimni started mumbling something about disrespect and perverts when Ayame walked into the living room. At first, no on had noticed her until there was a loud flop and everyone turned to the backpack that was resting on the floor worn out of over use and old age. Kimni and Arith starred at the backpack as if it were triggering memories from the old. Dante blinked and raised a brow at Ayame's direction. "What's gotten into you? Trash can is in the back."

"This is not trash." Ayame spoke vaguely and serious. "It's our mind that is being flushed down the toilet at the moment." Dante sat back throwing his hands behind Kimni, whom was slightly blushing trying to ignore Arith's mocking stares.

"What the hell are you talking about…"

"Arith, what is a monosacharride?"

"Why you getting me involved in your fights?"

"WHAT IS A MONOSACHARRIDE?"

Arith stopped and pursed her lips together thinking. She did know the answer…

"A monosacharride is…holy crap…I don't know." Her eyes went wide and Arith started biting her nails and muttering to herself.

"We are going to become what Arith is becoming at the moment...a helpless case…"

Kimni had stopped smiling and starred at Arith in horror. Education. They hadn't been at school for a while now. How could Arith forget what a monosacharride was? With anguish she turned to Dante, who still had his arm around her and his weight came sliding onto her. She slightly gasped from the pressure of his weight and, with a small murmur of apology Dante moved back. Once she could control her blushing she spoke once more. "Will we be going to school? I mean, is there a school that you have enrolled us in?" Dante looked at Kimni then at Ayame hurt.

"But…I thought people didn't like school…" Arith sighed and shook her head frustrated, still not getting over the lack of knowledge she was experiencing. "No dude, we don't like doing work…school is okay, it's good for people. But the stress and all that crap is what makes it infamous." Dante shook his head and got to his feet pulling his cloak about him sternly. "So you don't like it here, that's why you want to go to school all day, is that it…"

"No Dante, that isn't it…"

"Infamous Arith?"

"Yeah Dante, we love you and all but it's the future we are talking about."

"Honestly…Infamous!"

"STOP IT!" Dante shouted turning to look at them once more for he had started pacing. His eyes showed pure melancholy and his bare chest was raising and lowering itself quite rapidly. "And here I thought having almost a month would make us more united…more together."

"And it has!" Arith protested standing up from the floor and crossing her hands over her chest like a small child would do when being scolded for no good reason. "We have grown together… mean.." she raised the picture of the jackhammer, "We are the only ones that understand each others drawing, don't you find that to be a proof of our…"

"Then why leave. I can give you everything! People go to school to learn and to work! Here, if you want to work you can help me!" Dante spoke pointing at himself as he walked towards Arith. Ayame raised her hand timidly and Dante rolled his eyes angrily. "I said you didn't have to raise your damn hands." Ayame went a bit paler then usual and then spoke back almost shyly, something not seen a lot. "Don't you think you are taking this to hard? I mean, don't you work as a man whore?"

"A MAN WHORE?" Dante growled in rage, making Ayame back up slightly. "Well that was what…Arith…had… err…said."

"OH SHIT, DON'T HURT ME!" Arith spoke as Dante glared at her with death sentences coming out of his eyes in flames. Arith ran behind Kimni and seconds later Aranell came running downstairs. She poked her head from the side and raised a brow at the awkward scene of them all cowering unto Dante's wake. "Damn you people…. don't know how to keep quiet…I was asleep." Ayame walked to her and pulled her to the room they were all in. "Dante's mad because we want to go to school."

"School?" Aranell said looking at Ayame Credulously, Dante spotted this and jumped over the table and hugged her, practically suffocating her. "You see, Aranell doesn't want to go to school and you obviously don't trust me with one of you only." He eyed Arith who was cowering behind Kimni knowing she would have protested first. Kimni was feeling the pain of Arith's grip on her shoulders and she couldn't take it any longer. She moved away slightly wincing from Ariths grip and turned to Dante with a sad expression. Truth be told, she didn't like to see him like this and she felt a bit of guilt. Dante obviously did not have much company and now he's grown attached to them. It was normal, like when a parent suffers on the first day of their young child's school.

"Dante…"

Dante turned to Kimni and turned quickly away from the hurt face she was starring with. Kimni walked forward and spoke shyly but a bit louder, "Dante…"

Dante let go of Aranell who stumbled sideways and huddled next to Arith and Ayame, who were all looking intently at Kimni.

"Dante."

"What." He spoke with complete hate. Kimni smiled slightly. "Please, don't be mad. We appreciate everything you do for us I mean… you saved us, didn't you? You're teaching us things we would never know and you treat us with respect and righteousness." Dante seemed to calm down and was looking at Kimni with Pride and respect; his eyes were glittering like that day when they had stopped to see the sunset.

"We just…you know. Knowledge is a very valuable thing these days and, wouldn't you agree that…hum!"

"Group hug!" Dante spoke as he had turned and hugged Kimni. She couldn't help it so just patted his back. As the other girls came and hugged the two as well. Once the moment was finished Dante smiled and walked out of the room leaving the girls in the living room utterly confused.

"Oy! Albino Idiot! Answer our question!" Arith called after him making him stick his head back into the entranceway. "If you want to go to school, look for a school and good luck getting accepted without your parents signature…" His eyes went back to a frown and he walked upstairs taking his sword which he always left at the bottom of the stairs ready for calls. The girls stood there standing as if they had been slapped, Arith broke the silence by running up the stairs after Dante. "But Dante? Don't you get it? Why are you being such an ass!" The other girls ran after Arith and saw her trying to open his bedroom door. There was both anger and guilt in her face as she turned to them, giving them the 'help me, or what' glance. Kimni made her way to one side of the door and put her ear to it, she heard shuffling but that was all.

"Dante do not make me burn this door down because, so help me god…"

The door flew open and a shirtless Dante was glaring down at Arith. She kept her eyes fixed on his glare but the others knew she was looking at everything else. "Listen babe… I'm only here to help you fight the trio, I'm not here to take care of you and say, ' okay girls, do your homework or you'll become hobos when you grow up', you aren't my children."

"Thank god." Ayame said out loud with a sighs "Your children will be the skit marks of society, just like their father." Dante stomped his foot and turned to Ayame in rage, his eyes had slightly taken a small tinge of read.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST CALL ME?"

"Skit mark of society." Arith replied holding a finger to her temple. "No education, no job… how do you get all this money?" Aranell stepped forward and started smirking. "He's a man whore." Everyone but Kimni and Dante laughed. With one last show of his bad finger, Dante walked back into his room and went into his closet. Arith followed along with everyone else.

"Come on Dante, you are being irrational."

"Irrational, IRRATIONAL? ME? I house you, feed you, heck, you have everything you need and now you want to rely more on education then the education I am giving you. I bet you anything, once you go to school there will be no time for you babes to practice or learn more of your elements because of homework and crap like that." He took a black shirt down and some pants and turned to them all in turn. "One would have thought you guys liked me."

"But we do." Kimni spoke out finally breaking the record of staying quiet. "Look Dante, we know school takes a lot of time from our life and stuff but, I'm pretty sure we can work something out. I mean, pace ourselves." She was looking at Dante but talking on and on until Dante threw her his shirt.

"Shut it Kimni." He said and this made her feel bad. She removed the shirt from her head and tossed it to his bed, which had velvet covers. She took a seat and sighed heavily. Dante walked out of the closet and scratched his chin. "Okay, out of whole hearted respect for Kimni, I'll make a deal." Kimni raised her head and looked at Dante who seemed to be studying her, she couldn't help but blush.

"I'll make you a deal. You can go to school and become a part of the society you detest the most but…" He stopped and thought.

"But what." All the girls echoed.

"But whenever I want something or need something, you'll do it." Everyone looked at each other thinking about it then Arith started giggling madly. "If you say so Dude."

"Arith!"

"You are such a pervert!"

"Hey, I said nothing, I just agreed!"

Dante rolled his eyes and grinned, he turned to get his red trench coat. "Good luck babes, and you Arith."

"Hu?" She gasped going red. "Nothing nasty Dante, I'm only 15…" Arith said backing up and Dante just laughed shaking his head. "Ah crap.. Then never mind."

"WHAT!" All the girls said and started laughing as they walked out of the room. Arith turned around and made a rude hand gesture at Dante before she slammed his door. Quietly they all made their ways down to the living room and all 4 girls sighed.

"How are we going to find a school here?" Aranell spoke out scratching her head. Ayame lifted her index finger as always and pointed at the phone. "We could get a phone book."

"Or we could walk around town looking for schools." Arith said as a matter- of -factly. Kimni nodded and bit her bottom lip. "Well, you think there are any schools like Med High and Sci Tech here in New Jersey?"

"I doubt it."

"Me too."

All the girls sighed and turned to Ayame who started pacing in front of them. "Okay, I have a plan. Two of us goes out into the wild and hunts down all the schools we find in the phonebook. Those two will see how good the school is in academics and safety that the people with the phonebook choose Arith, don't you have your phone?"

"Yeah…" Arith said slowly trying to remember if she did have it.

"Well the people that stay here can call you." Ayame said proudly while Arith started protesting. "Wait a minute, why do I have to go out into the wild?" She pouted her lips once more and pointed at herself. "I'm innocent, I'm the youngest!" Ayame turned to her and shook her head. "You'll take forever in finding anything in the phonebook. You can't even use a freaking dictionary because you don't know how to use it." Arith glared at her and sighed sadly. "Yeah your right…oh well." Aranell looked at Arith and back at Ayame. "Who's going out with Arith? She can't go by herself…" Ayame frowned knowing this was true so she pushed Kimni to the door. "There you go…. now be off! Aranell and I will look at the phonebooks."

"Why me! I want to stay home!" Kimni protested giving the door a frightened glance. "You don't know what's out there… the Trio…rapists…. this is New Jersey." Arith came back downstairs placing her Cell phone (the pimped out one with the pink cover…XD…stupid phone…) in her pocket and turned to Kimni. "Exactly, wouldn't you like to kick their ass? I sure would. Should we take weapons?" She looked towards the spot where Dante always placed his sword with questioning eyes when Kimni slapped Ariths head gently. "We are going to go look for school, not hunt down demons and crap." Arith jerked forward and rubbed her head. "Gees…. sorry misses, 'I woke up on my days today.'" Kimni flicked her hard and Arith shrieked in pain as she started to cry. Ayame and Aranell looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Arith snapped her fingers and the floor that Kimni was standing on became red. Kimni jumped in pain considering it had been heating up from under her. She extended her arm out and small vines appeared making their way to Arith's feet. She jumped on a chair and started making them catch on fire. Ayame stood up and stretched both her hands at Arith making her topple over from the gush of water that appeared.

"THE HELL! GANGING UP ON ME AND SHIT!" she screamed as she stood up drying her hair slightly, she noticed some red tinges to her brown hair but ignored it. Ayame laughed and shook her hands as if blowing some wind and the water on the floor started evaporating almost instantaneous. "Yes well, cool down you feisty Fire Ball." Aranell and Kimni Laughed, Arith glared at her but muttered her thanks as she too ended up dried. "Now then, off you two go, Aranell and I will call you in a minute. Remember what were looking for in the schools, mmkay?" She said shaking her index finger at the two. Kimni and Arith looked at each other and recited at the same time what Ayame had said before.

"We are going to see if the schools have good Safety and high academic levels…"

"JINX! YOU OWE ME A COKE!"

"OUCH! THAT HURT!"

Kimni and Arith started laughing ignoring the confused stares of Aranell and Ayame.

"Mmkay, off you go, you crazy people." Ayame said as she started pulling them out the door. Aranell waved good-bye and called out. "Remember, don't talk to strangers and if a hobo says he has candy, RUN AWAY!" Arith turned around and saluted back at Ayame and Aranell. Kimni was more preoccupied at the window on the second floor where she could easily make out Dante's figure. He was frowning and looking down at Arith and Kimni. She sighed heavily and raised her hand shyly waving laters… to her surprise, it seemed he was taken aback and he smiled weakly raising his own arm in return. She smiled with more resolution that they didn't leave with him angry with them and hurried Arith to follow her. The faster they found everything, the better.

"I'm hungry…I'm starving… I'm dying…" Arith moans where all that Kimni could hear and it was starting to tick her off. "Yes I know your hungry, I'm, hungry too but you don't see me complaining!" Arith turned to her and frowned sadly picking up her cell phone from her lap. "Sorry Kimni…what's taking them so long?" They had been waiting for almost two hours now, it was 7:35 in the afternoon and they hadn't gone back home. They had found a dew school but most of them had a bad history, raping, killings, gang fights, low academic scores and levels, favoritism, bad morality, and all these other stuff. At first, with all the enthusiasm, they had actually been writing down every fault from the school; now, not even a 200-page spiral notebook could write down all the flaws. It wasn't that the place was bad, on the contraire, Arith's home high school seemed something like most of these schools so that is why she never agreed to stay in them. In some occasions the school would be great but then something like no concurrent classes, no college credit classes, and all these other things that they were so used to in the Valley wasn't available. They figured they were looking at all the wrong places. For some reason, most of the public schools were not listed in the phonebooks.

"Bomb threats, probably." Aranell had said over the phone during the afternoon as they made their way out of Cincsky High. "You know, like in Med high and stuff? They probably only give the phone number to the people that attend the school." This was a plausible hypothesis but that also made it hard to find schools. They had gone through most of the town until they had found a pretty good high school but one, it was too far away and 2, they had to have their birth certificate and social security number, which they sadly they did not have. Kimni and Arith had gotten tired and had taken a seat in one of those public benches in front of a pizza parlor. Arith kept glancing at the people eating the pizza outside and she kept biting her lips, finally, when she couldn't take anymore of this torture, she poked Kimni. "You think that if we pretend we are hobos they will give us a slice?" Kimni turned to Arith angrily and shook her head." You're an idiot."

"Correction, I am a hungry human being who is finding any irrational or rational way to get what she wants." She stated pointing at her self. "Arith is hungry and Arith thinks we should all agree with Arith about the Hobo Idea…"

"Kimni thinks Arith needs to stop talking in 3rd person mode" Kimni protested back. Before Arith could answer her back, her cell phone rang; she picked it up and shrieked with joy. "Sup? Yes…really…awesome!" She hanged up and stood up cheering. "Let's go! Ayame said that it was useless and it's getting late, we should get home." Kimni stood up ignoring the pain on her feet and winced slightly as she jumped out of joy. "Wahoo! Let's go, my feet are killing me…" Both Arith and Kimni started running across the streets and down the sidewalk. They turned a corner and for some reason, this run had turned into a race. Kimni was in the lead but she quickly gave up making Arith go in front of her. She stopped and caught her breath and Arith did the same laughing her butt off. "Can't beat me, I'm the master!" She said laughing and gasping at the same time. Kimni shook her head and poked her cheerfully. She turned her head and looked at the street names coming up ahead. "Yep…that's the street the agency is, all we need to do is walk down a block to the left." She was actually looking forward to going back home. She hadn't forgotten Dante's face and she was sure, even though the other girls didn't show it, they wanted to make it up to him.

"Ready Arith? I'm up for running again." Kimni said getting ready to run when she felt Arith poke her side, she turned and starred at what Arith was pointing at.

"A church… big deal. We'll come on Sunday if you want; though, I don't thing we should push it with Dante." She said as she thought what Dante would say about going to church.

"No dude." Arith said almost in a trance. "School. A catholic school." Kimni turned to the horrified face of Arith and understood her fear.

"A CATHOLIC SCHOOL! ARE YOU INSANE, I LOVE GOD AND ALL BUT I DON'T WANT TO BE WEARING NIFORMS AND CRAP!" Aranell was screaming out loud from the home. Both Kimni and Arith had to back up a bit in order for their ears not to burst.

"WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO WEAR UNIFORMS AND STUFF…"

"It's all we got Aranell!" Arith yelled back at the phone, which was a foot from her face. Kimni was blushing slightly as a couple passed them starring at them as if they were sick and homeless children sitting at a street curb. She turned back to Arith once they were gone. " I mean, I'm not down with the Uniform crap but Dude…we need an education. We'll check it out if you want." There was a silence on the other end of the phone and then a sigh. "Fine, do it. I'll tell Ayame once she comes back."

"Okay, byers dude, we'll be there in a while." Arith hanged up and turned to the big ominous looking church and sighed tuning to Kimni.

"Yo, partner."

Kimni turned to her and tried to hide her laughter realizing she was trying to be like Reno. Arith kept talking pointing at the church. "You ready?"

"Shut up Arith…" Kimni said and patted her shoulder, Arith giggled and crossed the street with Kimni beside her.

The inside of the church was pretty big and beautiful, problem was, they didn't know where the entrance to the school was. They made their way to the middle isle, Arith breathed in the familiar scent of burning candles that she loved. "It's been a while since I've gone to a church, I've missed the smell…" She smiled and then gasped when there was an opening and closing of a door. The priest appeared through a side door and looked at the two girls quizzically. He was a old man who wore the black robes of a priest and had a few white hairs and a bald spot in the back. He adjusted his glances and smile at the two girls. "Hello young ladies, what brings you to the house of god this late at night." Arith smiled and spoke first quietly in respect and nervously. "We…err…wanted to find some information on the Catholic School here. We didn't find the entrance so we entered through here." The man scratched his chin and nodded looking around. "And your parents?"

"Err…" both girls looked at each other alarmed but the Priest placed a hand on each of their shoulders delicately. "Do not worry about that. Anyone is eligible to enter this school of learning. Tell me, what is it that you are looking for in a school?' He said beckoning them to follow him; he motioned his hand so that they could sit on one of the benches in the hall.

"Well, we are most interested in academic levels." Kimni spoke looking up at the priest.

"Yeah. We have copies of our classes and credits we have all ready gotten and the ones we might want to take. Does your school have college credit classes?" The priest stood up strait and once more scratched his chin thinking. "College credit…. seems you two all ready have your futures planned."

"Not really." Arith said with a small sigh. "We aren't from around here and I guess we were trying to find something that is more or less to what we were used to." The priest looked at her and smiled. "Top students I believe? Well, I'm sure we have room in the school for you also. College credit isn't done here but in the Community college two blocks from here. If you have the copies of your grades and classes then we can see what we can do to get you enrolled in some advanced classes." He smiled seeing the happy faces of the two. "Really oh thank you!" Arith cheered but then hushed remembering they were in a church. He nodded and beckoned them to follow him. He was walking back to the main door. "You are only two?"

"No, four. Four girls in total." Kimni said placing her hands behind her back. The priest turned around a bit confused with a raised brow. "Four, where are the other ones?" Arith and Kimni shrugged. "They are at home. They were helping us find schools all over the city and we went hunting them down." The priest laughed at her choice of words and nodded understanding. "Well, you two seem tired. Come here tomorrow morning and I shall get you everything you will need and we can talk about your classes. May god bless you." He said as he closed the door once they were outside. Arith smiled and waved and so did Kimni, Arith turned to Kimni once the door was closed and sighed. "Well, we're all good right? We'll come tomorrow. Thank you god he didn't ask any questions." Kimni started walking and she realized everything was dark. There were no lights on and there was something in that darkness that made her feel frightened.

"Arith…"

"Yeah…I'll call the peeps and tell them we are going home…"

"Arith…."

"I'm pretty sure Dante will accept this, I mean. If he wants to be real protective this is great."

"Arith!" Kimni shouted as she grabbed her head and turned it to the darkness. Arith gasped and starred for a while. "Is it just me or is it real dark?" Kimni shuddered slightly. "Where are the street lamps?" From out of no where there was a purple glow and Past, Present and Future appeared. The lights went back to normal and they all bowed at the two girls.

"Good evening young ladies." Future spoke still not raising from the Bow.

"Quite late at night to be walking all by yourselves." Present said not raising yet. "Yeah…" Past spoke lifting his hair up slightly, his orange hair fell down slightly, "There might be killers on the loose…. quite dangerous." Arith growled angrily and stepped forward. "Dangerous? I'll show you dangerous…" She was about to lunge at them but Kimni stopped her. "Come on don't be rash!" Arith turned to Kimni and nodded in apology. The trio stood up and starred at them mockingly. " Yes don't do anything rash. There's no one here to protect you."

"We don't need protection!" Arith shouted angrily. "What the hell are you doing here." She was starting to loose her patience and she realized that they were alone. Future stepped forward and look up at her. "We are here to get something that we need. Now, we can pretend we didn't see each other and go on our separate ways or…"

"Or…" Arith interrupted her eyes going red. "I can kick your ass and we can just stop worrying about you, period." The boys laughed but Kimni frowned and stood beside Arith her eyes going a bright green. "She's right, I wouldn't mind finishing you off all ready. Or have you forgotten how bad we beat you?" She got into fighting stance beside Arith and poked her with her elbow showing her support. "What's this? They are waning to fight." Past said happily rubbing his hands together, "Come on, and let's satisfy the ladies man!" Present laughed at this and Future nodded giving them the go sign. Both Past and Present lunged at Kimni at Arith who were more then ready to deflect heir attack when there as a growl and a blue aura around them. Future cursed and both past and Present were thrown back. Kimni and Arith turned behind them and Vergil got out of his demonic form and took out his sword standing between Arith and Kimni.

"Now it's a fair fight." He spoke and nodded at both Arith and Kimni. Arith looked at him and blushed turning back to the trio. "Are you stalking me all of a sudden." Vergil turned to her and caught her eye. He didn't flinch but just starred coldly, Arith couldn't resist it and blushed. "What do you think." He jumped forward and attacked future. Arith jumped off the church steps and went after Past who for some reason had jumped onto a roof of a building. She cursed and yelled back at him. "HEY IDIOT…FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN YOU PRICK!" She conjured up a fireball and tossed it at him, she only did this to make him fall, and she made another one and hit him squarely in his stomach making him fall to the ground. Her eyes were glowing red and her hair was shining slightly with red highlights protruding out of nowhere. He looked up at her before she stepped on his face. Kimni was having a hard time, Present had taken out a weapon and she was dodging his attacks most of the time. She cursed after barely missing by inches and screamed out as her hand glowed green and vines stuck out pushing him away. She shook her hand making them disappear and clapped her hands. When she parted them there was a green glow in the middle. This was a new trick she had read on the book. 'Lean and green' was the chapter. She threw up the glow into the sky and it quickly moved towards pas pinning him to the wall and once it stopped glowing it turned into a few thorny vines that were known to be resistant. She walked to Present and picked up his weapon and hit him hard in the stomach. Vergil was having a harsh battle with Future and finally he was able to drop him by bringing the handle of his sword on Future's head. Arith cheered with joy seeing that they had managed to put their enemies unconscious.

"And that's the way it's done…Go Arith, it's your birthday…" She started shaking her tussie in celebration. Kimni was gasping for breath and let the sheath fall. She looked at Arith and shook her head as she saw the bloody nose of Past. "Oh Arith…did you stomp on his face?" Arith grinned proudly and stood beside Vergil. "You know this. No pervert ever stays conscious." Vergil turned to both of them and gave a sarcastic sigh; this caught both of their attentions. "What's wrong?" Arith said her proud grin erasing from her face.

"You didn't kill them." He turned to look at Arith.

"But… you didn't wither" Arith protested angrily.

"I'm not the one that is suppose to kill them" He said and tossed his sword at her. She moved out of the way and Kimni slapped Vergil's arm. "What are you doing! Don't throw pointy objects around!" Arith started giggling at this as she picked up the sword and starred at it with an odd expression. Kimni looked at her and so Did Vergil… his eyes were glittering slightly and he spoke calmly.

"Do it…"

Arith turned to him in pure horror. She couldn't kill them, wasn't beating them enough? She always thought that if it was necessary she would kill in self-defense but this…this was wrong…

"You'll be saving the Human Realm by killing them." Vergil spoke trying to egg her on. In truth he knew she couldn't do it. None of the girls could, they were afraid of doing it. This was what he wanted them to realize. Kimni looked at Vergil's face of concentration to Arith's now tear stricken face.

"I….I can't…" she let the katana fall and she turned to Vergil in shame. "I can't do it. It goes against everything I know and….and…" She turned back to the sword and back away in horror sobbing. Kimni went to her and hugged her. "It's all right Arith… We beat them though…" She sighed and knew what Kimni was thinking of. 'If we couldn't kill them now, how could we kill them in the future, it will be the same thing over and over again.' Vergil picked up his Katana and sheathed it walking behind them. "Don't feel bad about this. You'll understand the concept of life and death sooner or later." Arith turned slightly around and Vergil couldn't help but feel a small sense of pity as her red eyes glittered with sadness and her pale face seemed to have been slapped by his words. He stopped walking and she just smiled weekly mouthing 'thanks'. Kimni hugged her all the way back to the DMCA (Devil May Cry Agency….for those who were like WTF!) She didn't look back and she had almost forgotten the news of the school they were accepted into. Dante came running downstairs and when he heard that Vergil was involved in this he ran out in rage. The four girls starred out at a raging figure in the distance running here and there screaming for someone that had probably disappeared. If someone had turned that moment to The DMCA, they would have seen 4 girls glowing. A cold faint wind started up and a small drizzle did to. It seemed that after that night they were not as naïve as they thought they were. They were innocent and there was always a price to pay.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

There is one thing no one will ever like about school and that is waking up early. You know that feeling that you get when once you are out of school the very first day of school when you go back and the first time you wake up early isn't the best time of your life. Your head feels woozy, your body aches and it is obvious that you don't feel like going. To hell with the excitement of meeting your friends again, you're sleepy! This was the problem at the moment for our heroines who had forgotten that there was no mother in the house or anyone to wake their butts up. Dante was downstairs all ready dressed and making breakfast; he had a sly grin on his face and was head banging to some song he had heard before he woke up; he was anxious to see if they made it.

After he had come back home from hunting down Vergil, he calmed them all down and started with his first 'horrible proclamation' as Arith liked to call it.

"Considering this is a Catholic school and that from the looks of all the other girls that go to that school, you need uniforms..." He had said pacing in front of them. He remembered even Arith's tear stricken face glow up with amazement.

"Really? You are going to buy us uniforms?"

"Of course! I don't want you to be unpopular because you are dressed improperly." All the girls looked at each other confused from what Dante had said. He then took them all to the store and well… let's just say, bought them what they needed…. No… what he wanted. He grinned happily and stretched as the waffles popped up from the toaster. Suddenly there was a shout of fright and the thumping of feet and banging of doors. Dante stood their hearing the commotion upstairs and sighed sadly as he heard voices and people moving around.

"Damn that Ayame…"

She had obviously gone to Arith and used her phone as an alarm. He sat down finishing his cooking and sulked angrily in the bright and cheerful kitchen. Upstairs, the girls were running back and forth to the bathroom and back to their rooms to change. Aranell was looking around for the bags that contained what they had bought last night and finally found them taking out the eyeliner. She tossed another pack at Arith who had, somehow and someway, fallen asleep standing. Aranell shook her head and poked Arith to life, she jerked once and then starred at her confused.

"You okay dude? You fell asleep…" Aranell spoke laughing loudly. Ayame sticked her head out from her room and shouted at the two. "OY! OFF TO CHANGE! WE'LL BE LATE!" She slammed the door and both Arith and Aranell made their way to their rooms and changed. In less then 10 minutes, all the girls were making their way downstairs where Dante had snoozed off on the kitchen chair. Arith made a gesture that she was going to rip his head off but Ayame stopped her and whispered. "We can do something worse…" Arith and Aranell looked at Ayame interested but then Arith turned and looked around.

"Wait…where's Kimni?" Right when she was about to turn she was hugged from behind; this made her shriek in fright. Dante had obviously woken up and was whistling with pure contempt at the wiggling Arith.

"Looking good babes!" He called out grinning. Arith got herself free and fixed the miserable skirt she had on and frowned angrily. "I hate you albino Idiot."

"Why do you hate me?"

"LOOK AT OUR DAMN SKIRTS?"

Dante looked at Arith then at Aranell and then at Ayame, all the girls flared in rage.

"YOUR A PERVERT"

"I'MA CUT YOU BIOTCH!"

It all went quiet when something whooshed by and took a seat on one of the kitchen tables burrowing her face in the newspaper. Arith and the others looked at Kimni confused but Dante was grinning more then ever. He made his way and sat down next to her taking the newspaper from her hands. "Morning Kimni."

Kimni grunted and glared at him, her face going red and her eyes going green. Dante noticed this and went back to looking at his newspaper. "Well, in case you didn't notice, your breakfast is on the stove." Aranell and Ayame made their ways to the Stove and served Kimni and Arith who were sitting on the table glaring at Dante. Once they were all seated and eating Arith stood up to get some orange juice, Kimni followed her with her eyes and glanced at her pleadingly for a glass to.

"Go get one yourself." Dante spoke as he started stealing some of the waffles on Arith's plate. Arith saw this and flared once more her hair getting red highlights now. "You little bitch! I'm going to make you spit that out!"

"I made it, stop complaining…and then you call me the bitch." All the girls gasped as Arith brought her hand down hard on his head. It sounded real nasty. His face contorted in rage and pain and Aranell had also lunged at Dante and had poked him real hatefully on his shoulder. He was twitching and clutching his arm… looking like a complete retard. Ayame was laughing at them all. Kimni stood up but accidentally dropped Dante's newspaper and gasped slightly. "Guys! Why did you do that!"

"What do you mean why? He called Arith a bitch!" Aranell protested poking Dante a bit more just for the pure satisfaction of seeing him shriek. Arith had her hand resting on the back of Dante's chair and was soothing it. "I'm no bitch… not yet…He's the one acting like a real dumbass…look at me…LOOK AT YOU!" Kimni blushed once more as everyone including Dante turned to see her.

"Kimni…"

This was the biggest torment she had ever experienced. She hated skirts and now, under Dante's new rule, she didn't know why she was tortured to wear the shortest skirt in the world. She turned to get a glass and fill it up with the juice gallon that Arith had taken out but Dane cleared out his throat. Kimni turned angrily at him and a bit frightened considering he was grinning like an idiot.

"You dropped my newspaper." Dante spoke looking at her through some streaks of hair while Kimni glared at him.

"I'm sorry." She said trying to avoid his eyes.

"Pick it up."

Kimni gasped angrily and brought her hands to her skirt, "Why me!" Aranell and Arith looked at Dante in complete disgust.

"You are such a pervert, Dante. I hope you burn in hell for this." Aranell growled angrily cracking her knuckles. Ayame stood up rapidly looking at the kitchen clock and gasped, "Guys, we are going to be late!"

Arith turned to the clock and quickly took hold of Kimni's hand and dragged her out of the kitchen. "Oh great…come on Kimni let's go."

"But! HEY WAIT A MINUTE!" Dante's shouts followed them out the doors and there they started running for dear life. Aranell turned around and saw Dante leaning on the doorway, his newspaper in his hand. She poked Kimni and she turned.

"Don't run that fast babe, you're showing your red lights!"

"That's it. He's going down." Kimni stopped where she stood and turned to Dante. She kneeled down and placed a hand on the ground. The other girls turned to her a bit bemused and grinned knowing perfectly well what she was going to do.

"Three, two…one" Arith's countdown was the last thing they heard as a loud crumbling noise emitted from under the street. Where Kimni's hand was placed a sort of wave erupted lifting the street pavement slightly and advancing towards Dante with immense speed. Dante starred at this for a minute and then finally realized what was happening a little to late. Once the crack had reached a few feet from the door Sprout erupted from the abyss and tackled Dante over making him disappear into the interior of the house, Kimni grinned. "So, shall we?" The girls cheered her on as they made their way to school. Nobody gave Dante last glance.

Dante stood up holding Sprout in his arms and shaking his head stiffly as he saw the girls turn the corner in the distance. He held a smirk, which even Sprout, found to be odd, he gurgled in question towards Dante. "She's crazy about me…." Sprout slapped him once more with one of its long tentacles. Before Dante closed the door and threw him out. "Stupid flower- fruity dog!"

"Oh good, you are all here. I was afraid you wouldn't come…" The Priest had opened the door to his study and let the girls in moving behind his desk. "We are so sorry, we got back tracked." Arith said as she motioned for the others to take the two seats. Kimni and Aranell sat down with Ayame and Arith standing behind them. The priest looked at them all and smiled gently.

"You all seem to be very protective of each other. We need more sisters like that." The Priest stated nodding respectfully. Ayame gave a small laugh and pointed at herself. "Sorry, but we aren't sisters if you can see."

"Yeah, we're friends…. that err…"

"Find ourselves away from home and we don't want to get left behind in education." Kimni quickly added giving Arith a stern look. The Priest nodded once more respectfully and started rummaging through the different folders on his desk. "Let's see. I got your schedules worked up last night. Like you said, we don't want you girls to be behind." He eyed them and laughed at what was supposed to be a joke. The girls mumbled a bi trying to pass it as laughter. "Though, for the classes that you have taken and want to get them higher I got these." He passed out a folder to each and beckoned them to open it. It held the information they would need to fill in for the school nurse and etc. and their schedules but in the back of the stack were an I.D for what seemed to be a community collage.

"I fought my pledge there and they informed me that they will only accept you if you get good scores and good attendance. Do not worry, I fixed your schedules so it can suite you. On 'A' days, you will have the classes we offer here and on 'B' days, you will have the collage classes."

"So were taking concurrent and AP classes over there?" Aranell spoke in a shy yet concerned tone. The Priest nodded towards her. "Well I think we are all good." Arith said looking at her day schedule. "We go to class now?"

"Yes, yes…. don't want you to be too late. And you girl." He pointed at Kimni looking at her skirt disheveled. "Wrap a sweater around that or something." The girls filed out of the office and started laughing at Kimni who was almost in tears.

Considering that they mostly needed the same classes, almost the same classes, their schedule here was the same and to their great relief, they had been treated pretty well. The girls were great and people like Arith had all ready started getting reputation. Arith was sitting at the lunch table talking to some other girls about some crazy blonde who had all ready badmouthing the four girls.

"What are you going to do, Arith? Are you going to tell the head nun?" The three girls turned to look at Arith who was laughing out loud non-stop. "Tell the head nun, what good will that do? I'm going to have to keep an eye on her, I don't trust blonde people… no offense Ayame…"

"Non taken." Ayame said raising her chocolate milk in a cheer. All of a sudden a door opened on the opposite side of the cafeteria and to the four girl's great shock, boys appeared entering to go to the lunch line. Some just took some seats in the unused lunch tables and looked around. Arith was sitting on top of the lunch table they were on and frowned glaring at some random boy who had smiled at her. "I did not know boys were here…" It seemed that the entire cafeteria had gone quiet and as the four turned around to look at the other girls, they noticed a dramatic change in behavior. Arith moved away from the girls that she was talking to who were now gawking at some blonde haired guy and stood up by their table. Kimni was looking at them and holding onto her skirt in horror.

"How the hell am I going to walk out like this?"

Ayame started laughing at her and stopped when she saw Aranell's dazed expression. Arith was passing her hand in front of Aranell's eyes but she got no reaction until Kimni pinched her.

"Ouch, what the hell was that for!" Aranell shrieked rubbing her shoulder.

"What the hell are you starring at!"

"What's wrong, I can't look at guys anymore? I'm going to a catholic school but I'm not going to become a nun." She was snapping at Kimni now who had now started laughing at her. Arith was still looking at them and then glaring back at the boys as if protecting her pack. What they didn't notice was a trio of boys in the back of the building.

If one looked at them and tried to picture them as the trio, it was really hard. Their colored hair was gone and replaced with Blonde, black, or brown hair. Past, who's real name happened to be John, scratched his blonde hair in frustration looking at his meat patty which was growing something green on it,

"Damn it, it's the third time this week… what the hell is this Michael?"

Michael turned to him pulling his black bangs out of his face and growled under his breath. "I told you. They have to mark the meat and it just so happens you always get the marked piece." Present, or Max, started laughing out loud pulling his chocolate milk away from the others and trying to muffle his laughter as he drank. John looked at him as if he were a complete idiot and nodded towards him. "You're going to choke if you laugh and drink at the same time idiot."

"No I won't!" Max stammered and of course, he did choke. Michael couldn't help but laugh at his stupidity for once and patted him on the back while John looked at him and laughed. Through the corner of his eyes he saw a girl get off from a table and stand there, looking quite angry…

"Holy crap…feisty fire princess!" He sat up straight looking at the four girls table. They were all here! He grabbed Michael and Max's ears and pulled them to the direction of the table.

"Holy crap, your right!" Present whispered under his breath as if enlightened and in a trans… "They are so…"

"I can't believe it." At once, Michaels glance went to Aranell. Something about her curly hair, her posture, the glance of boredom and excitement, she was perfect. He ignored the calls of 'let's go rape them then kill them' from past and stopped to think about his own plans of what to do with this wondrous opportunity.

"She doesn't look happy, that fire princess."

"Maybe she doesn't like guys, maybe she's a lesbian?"

"I doubt that. You saw how Vergil has high esteem towards her….they probably are going out."

"Then I bisexual?" Max said who had turned to look at John, John looked at him with complete disgust. "She isn't gay man, I know woman!" John stood up to throw his tray and that was when the bell rang to go to class. The trio groaned and walked off giving the girls one last glance. They were sure they'd see more of them today.

"Dante, were home… Dante?" The four girls walked into the DMCA and looked around seeing no signs of Dante. It had gotten dark outside; it was all ready autumn time. Arith threw her book back on the side of the door and yawned. "So, who's hungry? I know a secret stash of Dante's he left in my room, how about pizza delivery?" Ayame and Aranell nodded in approval when the sound of laughter and cheers came from the living room. They walked slowly as if this were an intruder and saw Dante lying on the couch watching a …

"Dog show? Dante…" Aranell said quietly and sarcastically shocked. Dante turned around to see them and grinned. "Hey babe, those are some of the best bitches in the world. It's pretty interesting…wish I had one of those…" The girls all filed onto the couch and sat beside him. Arith and Kimni were sitting beside him and leaned on him completely exhausted. Ayame leaned on Arith and Aranell leaned on Kimni. Dante looked at them all and hugged them.

"So. How did it go?"

" GYM! GYM! I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR GYM!" Arith shouted hiding her face into Dante's shoulder. Kimni stretched her hand in order to pinch her hard. "Shut up…. we are all tired. No one was expecting that." Dante looked at them dumbstruck. "Gym? You are having trouble with gym?" he stammered laughing out loud. The girls raised their gaze and quickly stood up to walk upstairs. Dante looked at the dogs on t.v and then at the girls. "Ah crap…stay their my sexy bitches!"

"You're what!" The four girls shouted from the stairs. Dante appeared and ran up to them. "I was talking about the dogs on TV, anyway, gym? Come on babes! That should be the easiest class in the world!" Ayame looked at him and frowned. "Just because you're a demon and have super human strength doesn't mean we have the same thing to. Screw running."

"YEAH SCREW RUNNING WATCHA!" Arith shouted starting to walk back up the stairs. "At least tomorrow we'll have normal classes and wear what ever we want." Kimni quickly stammered to this and ran to Dante punching him in the stomach. He didn't flinch but looked at the spot she had hit him and grinned. "Ok…. so what was that for?"

"There are boys! There are boys in that school! They were all looking at me like if I were some whore!" Kimni felt her face go hot ad her eyes go watery. Dante looked at her his face going from surprise to anger. He turned around and started shouting. "Those perverts! How dare they look at you like that! You're no whore…tell me babe…tell me who did it!"

"Vuilg oui man!" Kimni shouted and ran to her room slamming the door. The other girls looked after her and then one after the other went into their rooms. Dante stood there not understanding what happened and shrugged when he was left alone. "at least I still have my bitches" he said as he went back to the living room. He stopped dead when he saw it had ended and now they were showing a football game.

"WHAT NO! Oh wait…. the Cowboys…" He shook his head and walked to the kitchen after turning off the TV. He was about to get some coke from the refrigerator when he saw the newspaper Kimni had dropped still on the floor. He shook his head feeling like a complete retard, he had gone to harsh with them. He picked it up and threw it on the table taking a seat.

She was probably crying herself to sleep over the embarrassment of today. He shrugged and stood up walking up the stairs.

"I'll make it up to my flower…I promise you Kimni… I always forget you aren't her…" He reached the hallway where he caught a glimpse of Kimni's closed door. He walked to it but somehow he couldn't find himself to open it. The skirt thing just proved she wasn't who he thought she was. With a heavy heart he sat down leaning on it and heard Kimni's sobs from the inside.

"I'm sorry…" He said in a mere whisper wishing she could have at least heard him.

Sprout appeared from the stairs seeming as though it had gone to stuff its face with something. It looked at Dante a bit confused and settled in his lap hearing the sobs inside from Kimni then started to wither gently. Dante held it and whispered to it as if it were a child. "It's okay sprout…it's my fault…I said I was sorry…" There was now noise from the other rooms and he thought it was time to go. He walked out and moved into his room still holding sprout, the only thing that was closer to being with Kimni then anything else.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 

"Dang…poor pigeon." Ayame whispered patting Arith's back as the girl started sobbing and trembling.

"You can see its guts and everything, how cruel…" Aranell echoed shaking her head in disapproval and glaring at the sports car that had ran over the pigeon.

"Don't remind me of it…not a nice omen to start school…" Arith started crying into Ayame's shoulder whom couldn't help but keep a straight face. Kimni glared at Arith and poked her showing a tone of sarcastic anger. "So now it's Ayame eh?"

"I LOVE YOU CHICK!" Arith giggled, the tears disappearing and blowing a kiss to Kimni whom just shrugged in mockery. "So yeah…did you hear the pop when the pigeon was run over?"

Arith at once commenced crying, Kimni grinned with pure honor and pride seeing that once more she accomplished her daily goal; making Arith cry. Aranell smirked and shook her head disapprovingly at Kimni but still, a little bit of amusement isn't that bad. The four kept walking through the sidewalk on their way to their second day of school at the community collage. This morning there had been much more bustle and pleads from Dante.

" But you people don't understand!" Dante had been shouting from across the kitchen table slamming his fist on it making the plates and cups bounce. His eyes were screwed up in complete worry and shock seeing how calm the girls were taking to going to college.

"Dante…" Arith had called in a singsong voice as she moved her cup that had gone astray from its old spot from the hit of Dante's fists towards her lips. " The private school didn't have the advanced placement classes that we needed besides-" She took a sip of her milk as Kimni continued her sentence stabbing the air with her fork towards Dante's direction. " We'll be home by 2 so you won't be alone for 8 hours like yesterday." She assured him. Dante stood up straight studying Kimni's face for any sign of lying. The other girls looked up at him accordingly and alas, he sat back down with a defeated sigh.

"All right…" He went back to eating his bacon still looking at Arith who was sitting across of him and turned his head sideways resting it on his hand. He tilted his head making his hair hide parts of his left eye as he surveyed Kimni.

"So… are you sure you will be all right?"

Kimni sighed heavily and put her fork and knife down on the side as she heard Dante's comment. She hadn't meant to talk to him before but she seemed it had been a good idea at the time but now, he was thinking she had forgiven him for mocking her. She stood up from her seat, took her unfinished plate to the sink and made her way to the stairs. "I'll go get my backpack ready, yah?"

At the present moment, Kimni was still remembering Dante's face of anguish as she had left the kitchen, when she didn't answer him. Even though the other girls hadn't caught it, there was a wall between her and Dante now. It saddened her slightly considering…well…it was Dante Sparda for crying out loud. One gets into fights with friends, family, but kidnappers and guardians? As they walked she kept pondering this thought, was Dante justified? For one thing, she was extremely happy that they didn't have to wear those cursed skirts, she didn't have to put up with Dante's pervertedness. They were passing the church where they went to school, girls were filing in ready for class and yet, they still had about 2 blocks to walk. Not really realizing what was happening for she was lost in thought, Kimni was brought back to earth as she felt someone poke her and turned in time to see Aranell poking her over and over again her eyes smirking at Arith.

"Oh no you didn't just pass AIDS to her!" Arith snapped at her taking hold of Ayame's hand. "Come on Ayame…leave those wierdos. In the words of Dante…'let's rock babe'" When Arith said this she quickly brought her hands to slap the back of Aranell's head….hard. She shrieked in rage as she started running after the hysterical Arith who was now skipping along the sidewalk, Ayame at her wake and Aranell running as fast as her short legs could take her.

"WE ARE FALLING!"

_Let's rock baby…_ Those simple words all ready brought moments to Kimni's mind…how pitiful, she thought to herself as she ran in order to catch up.

"Hold up people!" She called out grabbing a better hold of her books as she dodged the incoming traffic of people.

"THE NIGHT IS CALLING!" Arith kept singing on and on gesticulating as she spoke, her backpack kept thumping her side, which made ever syllable resonate and curve.

"GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE CHICA!" Aranell shouted from a few paces behind her. She held her purse and backpack tightly as well and was hunched over in order to get a better burst of sped.

"TEARS INSIDE ME, CALM ME…. GATCHO!" There was a loud thump as Aranell finally caught Arith. Ayame's laughter over took the street as some people stopped to see what was happening, either if it was a few gangsters in a fight or just some young teenage girls wrestling in the middle of the sidewalk. Kimni finally caught up to the group and starred down at the scene that was going on. Aranell had Arith pinned pushing her head down trying to make her touch the ground but no matter how much she pushed Arith, who was laughing hysterically and cheering the angered and irritated Aranell to try harder. Ayame was jumping around counting the seconds it took for Arith to fall into Aranell's grasp. Finally, Aranell came back to reality and got up fixing herself up a bit and looking around embarrassed, Arith was still laughing away as she stood up and giggled. "Yeah…perfect way to start a day a community collage." Arith said sarcastically.

"Next time you touch me Arith you'll pay for it." Aranell said under her breath looking around at the passersby trying to act as if nothing happened. Ayame was now whispering in Arith's ear and Kimni, whom was still quite, finally shouted out stopping the group.

"Look guys, there it is!"

At once, the girls turned to see the community collage, which stood across the street. It wasn't tall but it was long and looked so shaggy and worn that it seemed more like some drug addiction therapy place. The four girls starred at it for a while with worried and blank expressions. This was the college where they had to go but frankly they were getting second thoughts about it; they would be mostly the only 15 year olds covered with adults as classmates.

With laden hearts they all took a step forward and crossed the street in silence still starring at the sinners den, Arith was muttering something under her breath where the girls could only catch bits and pieces of her talk like 'ragging hormones' and 'adults…scary..' but still, she never let her face look down. They finally crossed the street and walked onto the front door and stayed another few minutes starring at the two metallic doors and at the many people coming in and out. The four girls exchanged glances an waited for one of them to walk in first. Arith, who was known for her lack of patience, starred at the others disappointed and irritated and made herself up the steps and opened the door disappearing inside. Ayame, Kimni, and Aranell starred at the spot where Arith had stood and finally reacted when the door finally closed with a rusty clank.

"Damn Arith… she isn't afraid of anything." Aranell said sighing and fixing her backpack to a much comfortable position.

"It isn't that she isn't afraid." Corrected Ayame as she moved forward for Kimni was pushing her. "She just doesn't give a damn….she's scared all right…" The three girls laughed at this and hurried up the stairway and though the door to spot Arith standing a few feet away from them starring off to the many halls. The girls made their way to meet her and she turned, hands on hips and pouting in anger.

"These walls… remind me of Med High…look, the brick walls, that's exactly like Sci-tech…meh… I miss them both." When she finished her face was showing sadness and a distant look appeared afterwards. Kimni moved from behind Ayame and placed her hand on Arith's shoulder smiling. "We all do. No use in feeling bad over it."

Arith nodded her thanks and then turned to Ayame and yawned. "Mmkay, so like… got the papers?"

"Papers?" Ayame said a bit confused but stopped at the look of horror on Arith's face. "No worries, no worries. They are right here!" She started laughing as she passed around the schedules for the classes and then inspected hers lifting up her glasses. "So…English first period…"

"Me too!"

"Yay me too…what Starburst right?"

"Yeah, Mr. Starburst…nana, starburst." The four girls laughed in their huddle but stopped when people started looking at them as if they didn't belong there. After this little scene they decided to move in order to keep away from the attention.

The good part of this was that they had arrived 30 minutes early, they couldn't find the classroom and finally got the courage to ask someone. Aranell had asked.

"Yeah so, did he ask you out Aranell?" Arith mocked making sure to keep Ayame and Kimni between her and Aranell. Aranell turned to her angrily and rolled her eyes in irritation and discomfort. "Ay Arith. There you go again. I don't like every guy I talk to. You're making me feel bad." She held onto her backpack clutching it shyly. Arith looked at her and frowned giving a small sigh. "You know I was joking…still-"

"Still what?" Aranell snapped at her interrupting her sentence. Arith looked at her and started laughing again. "Still, you have to admit you actually fancy boys."

"And you don't…. that's scary Arith."

"YES I DO! I'm just not in the age of falling for them. They are pretty to look at..." Arith said lifting her head into a daydream where the main guy in there was Vergil standing on a lamppost over the rest of the guys.

"The point is" Ayame interrupted stopping in front of a door." We're here…"

The girls had kept on going and stopped to see the door which held a plaque saying 'ENGLISH: Mr. Starburst'. With one last smile and weak they walked inside and started their first English concurrent class.

School ended at two in the afternoon for them and Arith along with Aranell were waiting outside on a bench under a tree for Ayame and Kimni. It seemed that they had been separated, Arith had Spanish 4, Aranell had Spanish 2 and Kimni and Ayame had Computer class. At the moment Arith was starring at the teenagers passing by scowling here and there while Aranell was listening to Ayame's CD player.

"Where the hell are those chicks?" Arith said poking Aranell for some attention. Aranell looked at her and shrugged looking towards the metal doors in hopes for them to show up. "I'm hungry. I wonder if Dante cooked something for us." She said thoughtfully but Arith laughed at this. "Dante cook? What's next, he wears one of our skirts and comes to school with us. He probably got delivery or something."

"True…"

There was silence ones more as the two girls sat there as if owning the territory. It was obvious that if someone walked through there they would only receive hostility from these girls dressed in black. A soft wind came about and Arith turned to Aranell remembering that she controlled the wind and shrugged knowing that Dante wouldn't like it if they used their powers in public.

"So Aranell," Arith said grinning, "you and me, in the training room, wind versus fire. What do you say?" Aranell turned to look at Arith and grinned to. "You're on. I'm going to get you back for this morning." She said throwing a rock at her which she had been playing with and brought a gush of wind towards Arith making her topple over the bench. She started laughing nonstop and didn't notice Ayame and Kimni come out the doors. Kimni seemed to be hopping on the balls of her feet while Ayame laughed at her. Hearing the familiar laugh of Ayame, Aranell and Arith turned to them. Arith got up from the ground and dusted herself off before noticing Kimni.

"Whoa…what's wrong with you? Got to go?" She mocked imitating Kimni in the hopping.

"Shut up! I got to go!" Kimni said slapping Arith on the shoulder then resuming the hopping. Arith soothed her shoulder and frowned angrily. "Well, why didn't you freakin' go!"

"She would have but some guy was standing outside the bathroom door and she freaked out." Ayame stated plainly as if it was normal for guys to stand outside girl bathrooms, at this, Arith and Aranell flared up in rage.

"Who the hell does he think he is!" Aranell protested slamming her fist hard on the bench, Arith kicked a tree. "Yeah, that son of a bitch is going to meet my little friend…" Arith said embracing her knuckles as her eyes went all an evil red. Aranell had also changed for her eyes had taken a slightly silverfish tone to them. Kimni starred angrily at Arith and hit her again as Ayame started laughing once more noticing the wind had picked up a bit harder.

"AH! Why do you take it out on the tree!" Kimni protested starring at the tree and at the grass the Arith and Aranell were standing on. "Get off the grass!" Aranell and Arith exchanged glances and it was Arith who started protesting. "It's just a tree earth fairy!" Kimni starred at her and frowned. "It's a living thing."

"Without a nervous system…" Aranell answered as a matter of factly. It went silent as Aranell stood there nodding to her comment while Kimni and Arith starred at her like if they've never seen her before while Ayame starred at her horrified and started laughing so hard she turned red. Arith looked around all scared then turned to Aranell. "What the hell does that have to do with the tree and me kicking it?" Aranell looked at her a bit shocked and irritated. "It won't feel…"

"Look…the point is, the tree has nothing to do with Kimni going to the bathroom. OFF TO THE BAHROOM I SAY!" She lifted her hand and pointed in some random direction. Ayame looked at her and moved her hand to the right direction. "The bathrooms that way genius."

"I knew that…"

"yeah, I want to see you when you need to go to the bathroom…all lost…" Ayame started mocking Arith by making a face that looked something like a constipated person would look like. Arith starred horrified at this and kept walking not saying a comment. The others ran after her and together they made their way to the bathrooms.

Just as Kimni and Ayame had said, there was a man standing outside the girls bathroom. He was shifty man who seemed to be paranoid by to much crack in his system. He wore something like a Hobo would wear yet his face was nicely shaven. As the girls approached his blood shot eyes lighted up happily as he started walking to them. Arith quickly took up arms and showed him her fist. "Back up buddy…" She said keeping her distance as the guy looked them all up and down, thankfully, Dante didn't make them wear skirts.

"Aren't you young ladies a bit to young to be in a hell keep like this?" He starred at Aranell for a while and then turned to face the others by turn. Arith made a sort of growling noise in her throat but it was actually her clearing her throat. "Aren't you a bit to old to be here flunky?" The guy looked at her nd shook his head. "Not to old to have some fine-"

Kimni tugged at Arith's sleeve and hopped once whispering into her ear. "Hurry this up, I got to go…now!" Aranell turned to the guy and shook her fist at him and walked forward. "Back up you pedophile…I'll leave you sterile…" The guy starred at her and studied her face. It seemed he perceived she was joking and slouched back moving towards the boy's restroom. As soon as the coast was clear Kimni made her way to the bathroom and disappeared behind the door. The three girls were still starring at the guy who didn't seem to want to enter the bathroom. He starred back at them and moved his hand down his chest seductively and down to his tight pants. Arith rolled her eyes and turned to Ayame. "Go inside and back Kimni up. Aranell and I will stay out here to make sure Willy Wonka doesn't even get closet the door." With this said Ayame nodded and disappeared behind the door after Kimni. Arith and Aranell took their spot on either side like bodyguards making sure to keep and eye on the crack head. It seemed he was rummaging through his sweater for a small bag and was to make his move to sell the powder in the packs. Aranell starred at him and lifted her fist. "Don't even think about it." She spat out hatefully her eyes turning slightly silver. The guy thought it a good opportunity to flee and did. Just as the sound of the main door closing with the rusty clank diminished, Kimni and Ayame came out of the bathroom. They nodded and Kimni sighed gently as if she were relieved. With a last giggle from Ayame and a comment from Arith, "Real smooth Kimni, real smooth", they made their way back out an towards home, the DMCA.

The walk home was quite calm as the girls talked about their teachers, how Mr. Starburst reminded them keenly of Mr. Goldstein and how much they missed the Valley and on how different this over populated and polluted place was inferior to their Rio Grande Valley Home.

"There's no place like home, you know." Aranell said looking up at the birds ontop of some street signs as they passed. "the valley was loaded with birds… and even more trees." She pointed at some weeds that were being ripped out from the sidewalk and sighed gently. Arith nodded and looked ahead of them at the dead end where the DMCA was located. She seemed to be thinking of something and turned to Kimni. "Yo Kimni, why the hell was Dante sleeping outside your door last night?" The attention went rapidly to Kimni who hadn't expected this blow and gagged slightly as she spoke. "What…what do you mean, what the heck are you talking about?" Her cheeks went slightly red as she hoped Arith would drop the subject.

"Yeah…I was going to go to the bathroom last night but I tripped over something. It took me forever to get Dante to let go of me, he kept calling me Felicia… the dumbass…. maybe one of the playboy girls or something." The girls laughed except for Kimni. Who was this Felicia he was calling for? She never heard of her, he never talked of her. She looked at Arith and questioned her a bit more before loosing her opportunity in the DMCA.

"What did he say to you…or in other words, to Felicia?" Kimni asked timidly which made Arith poke her mockingly. "He kept making weird noises and…" She stopped as if remembering something tragic or disgusting. "Then he said that once we did 'it' we would be happy again." He woke up after that and started scolding me.

"I don't believe you Arith…" Aranell said for she and Ayame were laughing at Arith's comment. Arith starred at them both hurt and sighed. "If you don't believe me, ask Sprout. He led me to the bathroom and kept Dante from getting a hold of me again."

As the other girls started talking about how Sprout was awesome and how Arith had a crush on a plant, Kimni was still thinking about Dante wondering whom this Felicia was. It wouldn't hurt to ask, would it? Once they finished up the problem with the trio they would go back home and never see Dante in their lives again…ever. Kimni sighed at this thought but smiled knowing that if any other girl had been in her position or in any of the girls, they would try to enjoy everything while it lasted. She'd ask him tonight after she finished her homework.

She hadn't realized that they had all ready reached the DMCA and Dante was standing at the door, shirtless as they had left him, and grinning with a pizza in his hand. "Carry out anyone?" He said moving from the door and letting them walk in. They all threw their backpacks in the kitchen chairs and grabbed plates getting their slices of pizza and making their way to the living room where they all sat around the TV.

"So Babes?" Dante said putting his arm around Arith's shoulder for he was sitting beside her on the couch. Kimni looked at this an bit into her pizza. "How was school?" Arith started telling the adventure with her explicit details on how Mr. Starburst played with an invisible ball how the cafeteria was scary because they were the only teenagers there and how the crack addict didn't let Kimni go into the bathroom. At this, Dante turned to look at Kimni worried and took hold of her hand. "Did he hurt you? Did he touch you?" Kimni wasn't listening, she had been thinking on how Arith had acted so coolly to his attention, how he placed his arm around her and she didn't flinch even after what happened last night. Ayame was right…she really gave a damn sometimes and maybe she didn't think it was anything important, just an unforgettable memory of when she fought evil.

"Hu?" Kimni said as she moved her eyes from her hand he was holding onto to his worried face. Dante examined her face getting a bit closer which freaked Kimni out. "What are you doing?"

"Did you get anything the crack addict gave you?" He said lifting his free hand to check her forehead. She pushed him away and blushed heavily seeing all the girls grinning at her, especially Arith. "Don't worry Dante." Arith said patting his bare back but thought twice about it and wiped it off the back of the couch. "She's just tired…" Arith assured him and went back to her pizza.

The room went quiet again and it seemed Arith had fallen asleep on the couch leaning towards a side and Sprout had found his way to Kimni's arms and was trying to make one of its vines enter Arith's nose. Two whole hours passed like this and one by one the girls started leaving to do their homework. Kimni hadn't moved for Sprouts sake. She was too entertained by its actions that her and Dante were no longer starring at the TV but at Arith. It seemed every time Sprout was close to getting it stuck in there, she always moved and grabbed onto the vine. In one of these rare occasions, Sprout had moved his vine out of the way a bi to fast and had accidentally slapped Dante in the process. Kimni had reached her hand out to cover his mouth because he knew he would have made a sound and ruin the fun for all three of them. When she had done this, their eyes had met and the wall that she thought existed between them was visibly shattered by reconciliation.

"Shut up…" Kimni said whispering as Dante nodded moving her hands gently from his face not moving his eyes from her. "You…err…don't want to wake her up and ruin Sprouts fun…" she said gently but nervously. She had stopped talking because she was now looking back at him trying to read what his expression was trying to say. It was one of those faces people saw in romantic movies where the girl was blank and the guy was egging her on to make the first move. At this realization, Kimni looked down at Sprout who amazingly had disappeared, she was holding nothing and had lost the only hope she had to get Dante's mind off her. She looked back at him and couldn't help but blush and slightly shiver at the thoughts that were probably going on in his head.

Just then, it seemed Sprout had found his way to Arith and had accidentally pushed her against Dante. Dante jerked gently and turned to see Arith leaning on him as she slept. Kimni gave a sigh of relief as Dante changed his attention to the 'sleeping fire princess' which he kept muttering under his breath every time he grabbed one of Sprouts vines and tried to get it into her nose and another in her ear. Kimni starred at the two and couldn't help but feel sorry for Arith, she was going to kill her for not stopping this abuse. But what the hay… she wouldn't say either.

Dante turned to Kimni and beckoned her to help her remove Arith's glasses; Kimni obeyed and placed the glasses on Sprout instead. For a while Sprout seemed to be trying to make out figures through the glasses but finally fell backward completely dizzy and confused. With him of course went his vines. Dante, with an effort to catch him had leaned forward and his heavy necklace, the one he never took off that was given to him by his mother came smashing into Arith's nose as she woke up howling with pain. Kimni had backed up being surprised by the howling and laughed as Arith's face met with Dante's chest. She bounced and starred at the piece of body over her confused and amazed.

"Old Spice…" Was all she said as she clutched her nose, Dante moved back having had the air knocked out of him and leaned back in the arm of the chair breathing in deeply Sprout safely in his arms with the glasses askew on it. "Calm down babe, dang, you have a hard head." Dante said rubbing his chest gently and looked down at Kimni who couldn't stop laughing. Arith got up and starred at Dante to Sprout to Kimni rolling on the floor laughing.

"What the hell did you do to me!" Arith stammered getting up and running to the stairs. She stopped halfway and remembered Sprout had her glasses and ran back taking them gently from them. "Shame my man Sprout…" She said sadly and ran up the stairs leaving the three to laugh as they heard Arith slam her door shut. Sprout was shaking with laughter and was gurgling waving his tentacles that made Dante freak out. He passed it to Kimni and stood up helping her to her feet.

"Well, that was a good set of two hours, wouldn't you agree?" He said grinning down at her through the gaps in his white hair. Kimni smiled and nodded taking Sprout on her shoulder and started walking towards the stairs.

"Wait…" Dante called after he gently making her turn and see the little hopeless guy putting his hands in his pocket and looking down at the floor. She waited for him to speak and even Sprout looked confused and gurgled once more to try to scare Dante off.

"I owe you an apology…I just, come on. You know me and you know that I don't use my brain half the time. I did what any other guy would do and abused the power set before me…" Dante spoke taking a few steps forward and nodding here and his tone being sincere and angry. "I didn't think you'd be that bothered by the joke."

"The skirt? That's an evil Joke Dante…"Kimni protested glaring at him, when Dante saw this he knew he was taking this at the wrong approach. He tried to calm her down and walked to her poking Sprout instead of her. "Come on…I was joking…look what I was doing to Arith. Come on Babe… I don't want to live my life with such a pretty lady living in my house with a grudge." At this comment even Sprout changed a slight darker green as Kimni changed to a red tinge on her cheeks. She looked at some random spot and tried to ignore Dante's questioning face. How she would have loved to have just run up the stairs, this was insane. Maybe she was just being paranoid, maybe Dante was just taking so much consideration in her equal to the others girls…nah!

Kimni turned to him and nodded slightly laughing in nervousness. "Don't worry Dante. I forgive you. But you won't hear from me that I was to hard on you when I threw Sprout at you." As Kimni finished this, Dante brought his hand to his heart and kissed his fingers as a swear. "Consider it done babe."

There was a small pause where Dante looked around as if trying to remember something and Kimni kept starring at him thinking if this was the time to ask about the thing Arith had brought up.

"So, Dante. Can I ask you a quick question?" Through the light of the stairs and the outside light Dante turned to her showing a startled but happy face. "Sure babe, anything." Kimni blushed once more and kept talking ignoring his choice of words. "I wanted to ask you if you know anyone named Felicia…"

"Felicia? Around the block…I don't think so, maybe at the strip club, I haven't gone there in a long…" He had been about to laugh when he caught sight of Kimni's angry face. He quickly cleared out his throat and switched conversation. "Err, why do ask?"

Kimni brought Sprout into her arms for her shoulder was starting to hurt and lifted her head up at Dante. "See, Ari…I mean I heard you talking last night in your sleep. Don't ask me how but I heard you talking pretty loud. You kept saying something about Felicia. Who is she?" She tried to put the most innocent face she could and kept her tone calm and interrogative as a usual conversation should be but Dante took this new question as a shock. He looked at Kimni distantly as if trying to find the right answer. Actually, he was trying to make up a lie.

How could he tell her the truth, how could he tell her Felicia was the love of his life how he had given everything to her and how she was taken away and along with her his heart, his passion for life, his reconciliation with good. Looking down at Kimni, so innocent, yet with the potential of knowing everything. Could he tell her without saying to much.

"She…she was a girl I used to know. A good friend… you remind me a lot of her." Dante said silently and painfully knowing this was as close as he'd ever get to telling her. Kimni looked at him with a sad expression and hugged Sprout a bit tighter. "What happened to her?"

"She was killed…"

"I'm sorry, I guess she was special to you." Kimni said patting his bare shoulder gently. Dante looked at the hand for a bit and took it in his.

"Yeah…she was the world to me, Kimni."

Kimni smiled weakly and starred after Dante as he started walking up the stairs after making sure to plant a peck on her forehead. "Do your homework babe, I'm going to crash." As Kimni was about to follow him upstairs the phone rang. Dante quickly perked up in attention and flew down the stirs to answer it. He let the phone ring a few times as he got comfortable in his desk and brought the phone to his ear. "Devil May Cry…"

Upstairs the other girls had poked their heads out thinking no one was going to get the phone and starred at Kimni who seemed to be out of place. They all herd the muttering and rummaging from downstairs and they made their way to stand beside Kimni. Ayame was still holding her computer technology book and looked down the stairs in the direction of Dante sitting at his desk writing down something. "What's up with that white hairless being?" She asked leaning on the wall and reading some part of the book as they waited to find out. Kimni and the others shrugged wanting to find out the same thing but it seemed they were bound to know. Dante hanged up after saying his goodbyes and 'We'll be right there' and ran to the bottom of the stairs and looked up at the lot grinning.

"Good to see the sleeping beauties are awake, had a good night sleep sweethearts?"

"Screw you…" Arith shouted as an answer and threw him the finger while she was at it. Dante received it with a nod and a smile bringing his hands to his sword, Rebellion, which was always at the foot of the stairs. He turned around and walked into the kitchen still talking to them. "We got a mission girls. Password and everything." He called off as he started rummaging through the cupboards looking for some clips. The girls ran downstairs and starred at him from the entrance to the kitchen.

"A mission?" Ayame called out starring at Dante a bit confused before she remembered the deal they all had made. Arith sighed gently and nodded making her way to her room to get her staff. The others looked at her and followed. There really was no point in complaining about it. They had promised and Guardians never broke their promises, or so the books said.

In a couple of minutes the girls were downstairs with Dante looking at them a bit stiffly. He kept ignoring Kimni's eyes but looked everywhere else. After a few seconds he sighed and shrugged. "I need to get you people some decent fighting clothes."

"Like costumes?" Arith said grinning slightly and elbowing Ayame gently and playfully. "I shotgun the sluty Cat Woman costume!" There was another commotion as the girls started making fun of her while Arith kept saying she didn't give a damn. Dante couldn't help but grin at Arith's comment and tried to hush them.

"Sluty Cat Woman eh, I'm game for that, babe." He winked and flexed his muscles as Arith just shook her head and giggled. "Sorry dude, you aren't my type…JUST KIDDING!" The girls had started laughing at the hurt face that Dante was making before being pushed out the door and following the running Dante.

Before they knew it they were a whole block away and Dante started loading his guns. "Okay Babes, Jobs a bit easy from what the old man told me. You know that fancy house beside the church you all go to school at? Guy says there's some trio of 'demons' causing mayhem in his pantry." He turned to look at them with a grin on his face. "Jackpot…"

The girls were running behind him keeping up, seems the training was actually paying off. Arith grinned flipping her Staff and placing it on the holder Dante had bought for her. "Jackpot indeed my man. The trio's going down this time." She sighed gently remembering what Vergil had said about it being up to them to kill the trio. This was the time to do it, she only hoped Vergil wasn't there to push her into doing it. He actually hadn't come around the DMCA only when she saw him on the street. She couldn't help but feel a slight tinge of disagreement towards him but still, it would have been nice to see his pretty face before she went off and killed someone.

They finally reached the house and Dante stepped in with the excuse that the man had fled and left the house to their hunting pleasures. Dante then led them into the main hall which was a big, tall and round room with the second floor composed of pure stairways going higher and higher. The girls looked up amazed at how fancy the house was and turned to Dante as he started laying out the plan.

"Okay babes. So probably the trio is gone but still, there's always a good chance we can outsmart our enemies. We're going o split up. There might be a demon here and there so make sure to take it out. We aren't getting paid by the hour but still, no use making a sloppy job." He grinned gently and fixed his cloak making sure he was set. The girls started talking about who should go with whom and it was decided that Kimni and Ayame went with Dante and Arith and Aranell went another way. Dante protested against this about having companions when he always worked alone but decided it would be a good idea to teach them a thing or two about demon slaying. They split up here in the hall the three went up the stairs while Arith and Aranell went through downstairs.

Now, seeing that the girls had split up, upstairs, however, there was the trio waiting for them. They had jumped up to the chandelier, which was broken, and thus pitch black. They were looking down at the lot as some ascended the stairs and the others went down the bottom. Future turned his head and cursed under his breath. "Excellent, I told you to take out the old geezer…" He muttered at Present who was sitting beside him with a horrified expression for he was scared of heights. He didn't even open his mouth for fear of squeaking and giving away his position. Past was sitting on the other side of Future and was grinning excitedly knowing this was going to be more interesting then they had expected. He lifted his shoulder and nudged Future slightly, "Come on man, just a little bit of fun…"

"A little bit of fun? I haven't finished my homework and we're skipping school. I don't want to be like Dante there, do you?" Future stammered giving him a slight glance and pondered on this. He looked back down and saw that they had all ready gone out of sight and sighed.

"Well, if I get to live with four girls then I'm game for making a sacrifice." He grinned. Future shook his head in frustration and wondered why he had asked him that in the first place. "Let's go. I think they're gone." He jumped down and landed on the middle of the hall, his red hair glowing from the lights, Past and Present followed next to him. With one last look around to make sure the coast was clear, Future turned to them and whispered to make sure they weren't heard.

"All right. Seeing as that they split up into two groups, we'll split up into two groups." He took out his sword and examined it as he spoke before sheathing it once more. "This will be our rendezvous point. We'll meet here once we got what we came for."

"The Staff of Nymphus?" Present asked as he stared at Future a bit confused. Future nodded at the question and Present smiled with delight for he knew what was going on. "And another thing Future. Who goes with who?" Future had all ready thought about it and answered quickly as he started walking in the direction that Aranell and Arith had gone. "You to go upstairs and follow Dante and the other girls, I'll go and keep an eye out on the other two. And don't worry about the staff. I'll take care of it. You make sure the others don't find their way into the church." Past and Present saluted at the command and made their way up the stairs leaving Future in the hall, he made his way through the door the girls had entered, his eyes glowing red as he entered the darkness of the room.

------

So far, there were only small demons with nothing to worry about and still no signs of the Trio. Dante was starting to get frustrated and muttering under his breath that he 'wasn't no god damn pest control boy' and that the money the old man was going to give him was pathetic. Ayame and Kimni were actually exited, not only was this there first mission but they were learning so much and amazed that they had actually learned something at the training sessions with Dante. Once in a while, Dante would teach them something new and how to kill a demon properly. He wasn't even killing the demons but leaving it to the girls. By request, Kimni had taken his handguns Ebony and Ivory and was having a blast shooting at random stuff just for the pleasure of shooting.

"Calm down babe, you're going to hurt someone." Dante spoke grinning slightly. He was following them and kept stopping here and there to inspect valuables or markings on the floor or walls. Kimni turned to him and grinned gently. "Aren't guns meant to hurt people?" Ayame started nodding in agreement at Kimni's rebuttal and left Dante just shaking his head and clapping.

"Good job, you're finally getting it, sweetheart." Dante said and patted her shoulder walking in front of them and inspecting a vase. Kimni looked at him for a while thinking if she should push the Felicia subject but seeing that he had become all emotional and hurt she didn't want to ruin the moment. She turned to Ayame instead and saw her poking at a dead demon. It had the body of a cat but glowed with a blue aura, it had a long tail, which it used to slice at things, and Kimni had all ready learned her lesson. It also had some horns on the top of its head and growled with sounds like dogs. Dante had said they were from the same family as hellhounds, just uglier and deformed. "What are you doing Ayame?" Kimni asked as she too started poking the dead demon with her numchuks. Ayame was starring at it pondering there for a while before she answered. "I was just wondering what kind of pet I'd get. I want on of these. They look real weird." She laughed and kept poking it until it jerked as if alive. Both girls jumped as it started jerking trying to stand, out of no where a sword came on it and the girls starred as the head of the cat started rolling towards the stairs where the echoing sound of the horns hitting the hard wood floor came to their ears. Ayame swallowed and shook her head while Kimni pouted in rage.

"So, Ayame, still want one?" Dante grinned picking up his now bloodstained sword and grabbing on of the window curtains to clean it. Ayame starred at Dante a bit shyly and afraid eying the sword from hilt to handle. Kimni slapped Dante on the shoulder and made him let go of the curtain. "Why are you like that, we could have just shot it, not decapitate it! And let go of that, this isn't your house and it won't be yours even if you finish the mission!" She tried to fix the curtain a bit but found it was no use. It seemed that the blood that belonged to the demon was actually pure acid. The curtain started melting pieces of it falling on the carpet. Kimni backed away defeated and turned to the grinning Dante. She shook her head not wanting to hear his mocking but knew it was going to come either way.

"That's why I gave you the guns. I don't want to be responsible when the owner comes and sees that the place is falling apart." He walked on coolly whistling some tune ((ooc: we all know which one is that one…I guess not….Kimni and Aranell and Ayame should know. ' It's been a hard days night' ')) Kimni turned shocked and looked at the hall way they were standing in, walls, floors, carpets, everything was blood stained. Guns and swords weren't good for this kind of job and now she finally realized why Dante had been breaking their necks only. Ayame looked at her also shocked and starred around.

"Oh shit…" Kimni said under her breath and ran to the staircase. She could see the head at the bottom of the stairs but the staircase was burning in two. The acid was making wholes everywhere the blood had spilled and Kimni covered her eyes in shame. "I don't want to do this anymore, I messed up…" The two girls turned back around and started running to catch up with Dante who had now turned the corner, his whistling was the only thing heard. The hall they had occupied was a mess everything was melting. Ayame pulled Kimni after her who was starring at the place in disgrace and patted her shoulder.

"Come on Kimni. Maybe the guy is rich, maybe he'll sell the house because it was infested with demons in the first place." She smiled trying to cheer Kimni up but Kimni was to busy glaring at Dante to listen. She held the guns tighter in her grip and gave them to him. He gladly took them back and put them in their holsters. The rest of the walk was quiet with the scampering of those cat demons. The girls were now smarter to whack them to death, not just slice them.

-----

((ooc: Wow…you're still reading… is it that good? Take a break…I did right about….))

Arith and Aranell had been a bit smarter by pure luck and entertainment. They had passed the phase of feeling sorry for the kitties until one of them dared bite Arith. She went into a rampage and started whacking away at the cats with her staff calling out names of some warriors of Mexican history. Aranell just stood there and starred cheering and giving her edge.

"You tell 'em!" She shouted as a few demons left Arith's wake and she kicked them out of the way or slammed the necks of her hand blades on them. Arith seemed to try even harder when Aranell cheered, at she did was fear her anger.

"Take that you stupid cats! Screw you man, Villa, give me power man, Zapata, help out Villa, I'll kick everyone's ass!" She swirled her staff over her head and brought it down, as a golf club would hit a ball. The poor cats, they didn't know any better. They didn't know that when they saw a few get thrown away with their necks broken and obviously dead, they didn't know it would be the same fate for them. Aranell was thinking about this and shook her head in pity thinking how stupid evil people were. Arith seemed to be wrapping it up by catching a few cat's tails on fire and watching them run around catching others on fire too. Aranell cheered making some wind appear from nowhere to make the flames catch more life. They walked out proudly and entered a dinning room with a smile. It was isolated with no demon presence in sight. They looked at each other and shrugged walking forward with a sophisticated walk. Just for the hell of it Aranell would make an invisible wind surround them in order to make their hair fly. Arith kept them cool warming up the rooms and bringing in an orange glow every time they fought just to look good. As they walked the length of the dinning room something came smashing through the window. The two girls stopped but didn't jerk or twitch as a demon looking something similar to a skinny person missing pieces of skin and showing its entire skull crashed into the dinning table. Aranell and Arith looked at each other and Arith walked forward throwing her hands in front of her.

"Burn you ugly mother…." It seemed fire came roaring from her palm and burned the table along with anything that was on it. Aranell stood in the back grinning at the lethal attack Arith had. The room was resonating as if Arith was wielding a flamethrower. Once the place was burning Arith stopped, curtsied with a snap of her fingers and walked back to marvel at the beauty of the fire. Aranell gave her a high five and thanked the fact that Dante wasn't here, he'd probably tell them not to use their powers in fear that the house would fall apart. Amazingly though, a loud howl of rage appeared from the flames as the demon lifted itself up, flames licking around him. Arith and Aranell starred at it a bit preoccupied and saw as it opened its wings; they were bat like and torn. They seemed to be on fire and made it look like a fire demon and to Ariths dislike…it was. It took a handful of flame somehow and threw it at Arith, she rolled out of the way and so did Aranell. Arith was now next to the window and stood up quickly about to attack when Aranell shouted for her to duck and hold on.

Aranell lifted her hands and started whirling them quickly. Where the demon stood, fire started extinguishing from lack of air near it. Arith moved away for she was afraid of being depleted of air and starred as the demon started crumbling into ashes, gasping for breath and obviously dying. A few more minutes passed like this with the wind roaring around the room until the demon was gone. Arith stood up and grinned giving Aranell thumbs up.

"Good one chick." She said turning to look out the window; the sun was all ready setting. Aranell grinned and crossed her arms over her chest and stood up straight proudly. "I told you air could beat fire…" Arith turned and frowned shaking her head and placing her staff in its sheath.

"We are not going to fight about this again…"

"We still have a bit longer to go, we have all the time in the world…" Aranell mocked taking a step forward as Arith took one.

"No we don't. Fire can kick wins ass and it's final. I'm not an idiot like that fool. Stupid demon, watcha…" She shook her head and turned around to look back at the broken window meaning to close the subject when she saw something she wasn't expecting. "Aranell, come her, check it out…"

Aranell did as she was told and saw at what Arith was pointing. "Future…" Her eyes glared out at the little red haired Future, climbing through an open church window. She strained her eyes to look at the shadows of the building to see if the others were around but saw no one. She turned back to Arith and nodded. "We got to tell Dante and the others. They have to know that they are actually at the church." Both girls started running back the way they came when Arith stopped.

"But what happens if Future goes back in here, I'll go stock his little red haired ass." She grinned punching her hand hard. Aranell thought about this and nodded. "All right, once I get the others we'll go back you up at church…" They gave each other a handshake and Arith nodded still grinning.

"God speed, chick. I'll try to leave you guys something of him mmkay?" Aranell punched Arith playfully as she ran out the door leaving Arith alone. With one last look at the burned up wood and the door she sighed.

"Damn…. air can beat fire. Got to think of a plan on that…" She sighed and ran out the window landing on the street below. She looked around trying to find some witnesses of the jump and then ran towards the Church door. She opened it with one last look at the orange sky and entered the church. There was no one in there thankfully and it seemed normal, candles were burning, the church music was playing, and in the front near the alter Vergil was waiting… wait…

"Vergil?" Arith said as she jogged to where he stood. He turned to look at her and frowned looking behind me. "Where are the others?" he asked keeping his voice down so that it wouldn't echo around the church. Arith looked around to examining the place knowing that there was more to this then she had thought. "They're coming. Aranell and I saw Future jumping into a window so I came to look for him." Vergil turned to her and frowned taking her by her arm and pushing her to sit down. Arith wasn't used to being bullied around but fell to his will. "So, you are saying to wait for them?"

"Not at all..." Vergil said taking out his sword and turning to the alter and the catwalk that was above their heads. "If you want to look for him, I would suggest you look up there…" Arith stood up and strained her neck too look up there just as Future appeared walking from one side to the other. Arith flared up in rage and was about to throw a fireball and scream but Vergil grabbed her hand and covered her mouth pushing her behind a pillar. She was squirming for him to let her go but he pinned her making sure they weren't in anyway near Future's sight. Above them, Future looked around and seeing nobody went in through the trap door on the wall. Vergil had been keenly watching Future's every move and when he had finally disappeared behind the door he turned to Arith pinning her harder to the stone column.

"Impudent wench! Don't you understand what stocking people means, to flank them, to be incognito?" He growled loud enough for her to hear. Arith starred up at him with angry and terrified eyes, they had turned red again. She winced and shrieked at the pain of being pinned and on him pushing her on it. Vergil realized why she was squirming and let her go, she fell to the floor gasping for breath and popping her back. She looked up at Vergil hurt and he looked down at her slightly angry and apologetically. He extended his hand to help her up but she lifted herself and ignored him. "I'm not going hide…Jerk…" She turned and walked back out and looked at the catwalk above her and thought how the hell she was going to get up there. Before she walked to find a door, she felt some hands holding her from her waist.

"Stop complaining, there's no other way…" Vergil spoke into her ear as he jumped upward and landed perfectly on the Catwalk. Arith mumbled her thanks but still, she wouldn't forget the permanent marking from the columns she was going to have. She made her way to the trap door and realized it wasn't big and high, she was actually crouching in order to get through. Vergil starred at this and cursed as he entered. The room was pitch black and as Vergil entered the door slammed closed by it. Arith jumped and slammed her head hard on the stone ceiling and cried slightly whimpering. Vergil grabbed her once more and covered her mouth. "Hush damnit, Future might still be in here…" Arith tried squirming away from him but when he let her go she saw that she was surrounded by darkness and quickly found his hands to shield her. Vergil gave a deep breath and pushed her gently to move forward.

"I can't…" Arith whimpered in a whisper still holding onto Vergil's arm. Vegil gave up trying to move her away seeing that she had tried so hard to move away herself but now she couldn't let go. He stopped squirming and sat there. "And why not…" He said in a slight whisper knowing what was going to come out from her lips. He mouthed it along with her.

"I'm scared of the dark." Arith was blushing, not a lot of people knew she was afraid of the dark and especially when a demon could pop out of nowhere. Vergil held her hand now and nudged her to see if she would move forward but no, he only realized she was shaking. He sighed and faced her not really being able to see her facial features or if she was actually looking at him. "Look Arith, the only scary thing in here is me, and a few spiders and roaches. Nothing to worry about besides…it's probably a short way, you're being childish." Arith squirmed and let go of his hand, Vergil new she was angry and crossing her arms. "You aren't helping…" Vergil took another deep breath and growled angrily, "Look, Arith, can't you make your hair light up or throw a fire ball once in a while if you get scared? The others are counting on you. You aren't scared of the dark are you?"

"Yes I am…"

"Well, stick it to the darkness then. We've failed our task then." Vergil said leaning back on the wall and making to get out. Arith stopped him shocked. "You don't need me, go you, go kick his butt!" Vergil stopped and turned once more moving the handle of the door… but realized there was no handle and stopped to think. "I can't go…. He's beaten me once, I know what will happen if I go up against him solo." He stopped and turned his head to where her voice was at, his old self-coming into play. "You…wouldn't want me to get hurt, would you?"

"Why would I care what happens to you…you're suppose to be saving my ass…" Arith said a bit impatiently. Vergil couldn't help but feel as if he had been slapped…_damn, girls these days… _He turned and sat besides her whispering a bit calmer and less hostile. Arith seemed to be getting more and more angrier by the second. He would take his chance. " So that's how you feel about me. Remember when I went to see you… the first night you were at the DMCA?" It seemed Vergil touched a tender nerve because Arith took a bit longer to respond to this. He heard her movements and heard her sigh. "Yeah…"

"Remember what you said and what you promised?" Vergil said grinning in the dark with satisfaction and triumph.

"I said I'd help you and help you help us so that Dante won't get mad." Arith said and turned. "What the hell will that do to make me stop fearing the dark?"

Vergil took her hand and patted it sarcastically, " They don't know you are being helped. Besides I'm here. No spider or anything will hurt you. Leave the demons to me and you take out future, all right?" Arith seamed to be thinking about this and then took his hand with a tighter grip. "Then you go in front. I don't want to bump into some mutated spider who is going to ask me for red orbs or bite my head off."

Vergil grinned at this and thus he took lead. They went on through the tunnel a few times Vergil finding a Spider here or there. For about 25 minutes they were crawling through the whole until he finally found the door to exit. He got out and then helped Arith down. She had been making a few roaches leave her and hugged a stone column.

"I didn't think I'd miss seeing one of these…" Arith sighed and realized they were in some new room, which was as big as the church hall but darker looking and more lighted. Vergil beckoned to Future who was holding a staff in his hands over an alter, his face was smiling evilly. Arith was about to walk forward and tell the punk off when he remembered what had happened when she had tried to do that. She instantly walked backwards and away from Vergil who simply turned and shook his head beckoning her to walk forward. Arith took her chance and grabbed the staff from its holster and shouted out making the Future jump in shock.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't little red head. I'm going to kick your ass after you tell me what the hell you're doing here." Arith said through gritted teeth as she walked towards Future at the alter with Vergil grinning behind her and flanking her. She flipped her staff on more time and pointed it at Future who simply grinned and starred at the staff. He moved in front of the alter the glow from the candles lighting his hair making it seem on fire, his eyes glared down mockingly at Arith who was glaring back her own hair taking a tinge of red as she stood in defense. "My dear Arith… what a pleasant surprise."

"Save your greetings for someone who wants to hear them." Arith snapped back snapping her fingers sophisticatedly. Future grinned and he flipped the staff over his palm and went down the steps ignoring Vergil completely that were looking intently at the staff knowing what it was. He made a gesture to move towards Arith but Future attacked before he could move. Arith blocked with her own staff and starred at Future as they held the staff lock. For a few minutes they starred at each other with Future grinning and Arith scowling when they finally fell apart. Arith attacked him making him fall and jumped back falling on her feet beside Vergil. He quickly stepped in front of her and took out his sword defensively.

"Let go of that staff… you don't know what you're going to get yourself into…" Vergil said eyeing the staff with a serious look and threat. He new perfectly well what that staff could do and he wasn't about to let Arith fall a victim of it. Arith tried to move him but she couldn't, he was like glues to the floor and he couldn't move him. "Damn it Vergil, move you little pretty boy!" Arith brought her hands over him but Vergil held a firm grip on her not letting her move forward.

"That's the staff of Nymphus…" Vergil said looking down at Arith with pleading eyes. Future started laughing at the two and starred at the staff proudly. "You're right, good job Vergil." Future mocked as he kept walking forward. "And do you, Arith, know what this staff does?"

"IT'S THE STAFF OF NEVER ENDING SEX!"

Arith and Vergil turned around to see Dante and the other girls standing there with Ayame at the lead pointing at the staff with a frightened look. Future starred at them angrily seeing that he was outnumbered and the only exit was blocked from the catacomb. He starred at them and held the staff with a tighter grip. "That's right so if anyone of you tries to get close… you know what's coming for you…" He said as he turned to look at Arith and Vergil who were closest. Arith growled angrily as she starred at the cowering future holding the staff and turned to the other girls finally being let go of Vergil. Dante had ran to her and took her behind her starring at Vergil untrusting and then turned his attention to Future.

"What the hell are you going to do with that? Can't score with the ladies?" He smirked taking out Ebony and Ivory and glancing angrily at Future whom chuckled and shook his head. "No you pathetic loser. This staff is one of the many wonders that the people of the ancient world used. Once the world is destroyed this is one of their many treasures that we wish to still be in existence." Ayame was starring at it thoughtfully and turned to the rest.

"I don't think we can attack him without running the risk of being hit and, well, cursed." She said a but worried seeing no other opportunity in sight. Kimni looked at Dante and took a look at the guns. She turned sideways and saw that Arith was also looking at them and was grinning.

"We might not be able to do close combat, but we sure as hell can attack him from a distance…" Arith said nodding at her plan. Dante grinned and took hold of his handguns turning around and standing in a defense stand.

"Well Future, you leave us with no choice." Arith moved beside him on his left hand, her hands aflame and her eyes glowing like the fire on her hands. She kept a stance with her back at Dante and grinned evilly her hair also glowing. Aranell stood beside her with an invisible wind fluttering her hair, her eyes a tigne of purple and silver and her whole form was glowing a gentle white. Around her hands she held them in attack position ready to throw gusts of wind and even deplete Future of air. On Dante's other side stood Kimni who was flexing her fingers and making them glow a green color. Vines had appeared from around her ankles and seemed to be looking at Future, her hair had gotten some green streaks and was making her glow gently, her eyes had gotten into a watery green as she starred at future waiting to attack. Ayame stood beside her glowing the most and the brightest. The blue tinge around her made the rooms go into a blue light and the other glows combined to make it seem like a living hell in the background. She held her hands ready and her hair had also taken to emit the blue glowing streaks, her eyes were a watery blue.

Vergil starred but did not join, he starred intently at the group seeing what they could accomplish, to see if they were really what they were meant to be. Future starred at them all a bit frightened and turned to a wall thinking of breaking it. Dante started shooting first as fireballs joined in Aranell helping the flames to come harder. Kimni and her vines were trying to keep him in one space but Future was doing a good job blocking when he finally had enough and jumped, his hand glowing red and slammed it into the floor, he was speeding up.

He ran forward and hit each girl in turn blocking their attacks and attacking them with it. He then went up to Dante and slammed him hard in the stomach making him fall back. He was about to go for slicing each girls head in turn when a hand came around and punched Future squarely in the face sending him flying back into the alter. The girls got up and recovered from their hit and looked at Vergil who was soothing his fist. He turned firmly and nodded gently as he made his way to Future who was still dazed and he took the staff tossing it at Dante who caught it.

"I suggest you don't do anything rash…. brother…" he said as he gave Future a final kick. " Future was intending on hitting them." He made his way back to the trap door where he stood there thinking if he should even bother leaving or stay to make sure they were all right when Future came pouncing on Dante without anyone knowing. It seemed he still held his super speed and was wrestling Dante for the staff. The girls stood around them and finally were able to move Future away. Arith held Future pinned to the ground with her Staff when the ceiling started to crumble. Ayame quickly got her and moved her out of the way. As soon as the dust settled Past and Present had joined their leader and were looking around for the staff and seeing that Dante had it they pounced.

"Aranell, catch!"

"Hu?" Before Aranell could turn or even see what was happening for they had decided to run up the crack in the ceiling, the Staff of Nymphus came smacking Aranell on the top of her head. She felt to the floor shouting in pain as she turned to look at Dante in rage.

"Gah you stupid Idiot, that hurt I'm going to kick your ass and then…. and then…." It seemed that Aranell's eyes began to glaze as everyone's attention went to Aranell even the trio had stopped fighting and stared shocked at Aranell, future was enraged. She stood up with a bit of help from Arith and Ayame yet she never took her eyes of Dante. She looked at the other girls and when they had finally let her go she made to pounce on Dante. Thankfully Arith and Ayame took a firm grip on her and tried to push err away as Kimni grabbed onto the staff of Nymphus and beckoned them to follow.

"Come on! We got to get away! She can't get near Dante!" She started running up the rubble that had fallen and jumped up in order to get to the upper floor. Arith and Ayame on the other were problems of their own in trying to restrain Aranell.

"Come on chick, control your damn hormones for a second!" Arith was screaming taking a good grip of her right arm and her neck while Ayame took her left arm and waist. Aranell kept pushing franticly shouting and kicking.

"Let me at him, he's mine, I need him!" She kept screaming her arms trying to grasp him as he was still fumbling with the Trio. Ayame slapped her to see if that worked but it didn't and shouted out to Arith. "Damn, we won't get anywhere like this!" At that moment Vergil appeared and made the two girls let go of her, Aranell started running at once towards Dante but Vergil took her and threw her over his shoulder. Struggling gently with the slashing and screaming teen. "Let's get going, we have to destroy that staff in order for her to come back to normal." The three jumped up into the whole with one last glance at Dante as they met up in the main room of the church where Kimni stood checking what to do with the staff. She looked at Aranell worried and sighed seeing her raging to be let go and satisfied. Vergil threw her down letting her fall hard on the floor. She was about to protest but looked up at him still sitting on the floor.

"So…you like it rough I see…" She kept grinning seductively at Vergil as Arith brought her hand across her cheek in rage. "WHAT THE HELL! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR DAMN DESCENCE!" Once more she tried to jump at Vergil but Arith and Ayame once more kept her pinned. Vergil moved away and walked to Kimni who was looking at the staff then at the whole wishing Dante would jump out victorious, but he never did and the echoes of the fight died away, the only thing heard was Aranell's whimpering and the church music playing. Vergil looked at her and walked to her beckoning to be given the staff as he was about to smash it. Kimni looked at him for a while and stopped him.

"Will he be all right?" She said shyly knowing it a was useless to ask such a question to a person who wanted him dead. Vergil stopped and turned to him and then back at the girls taking an interest in Arith as she was tying Aranell with some vines Kimni had conjured up to the stone benches. He turned back to Kimni and sighed. "What do you think?" And went back to smashing the staff in two when something came flying and took the staff from his staff as he had tried to smash it. Kimni starred at Vergil who now had a sword passing through him and with a stunned face. The other girls turned to see what had happened and Arith ran to Vergil seeing the sword sticking from his back.

"OH MY GOD, VERGIL!" Her screams echoed through the church and it seemed to over power the church music that was playing. What happened next can not be explained in pure words, for it happened all so fast and yet very slow. As Arith stood up and started running towards Vergil it seemed as if she never moved, time had stopped. Vergil was slowly doubling over as Kimni moved back gently and tripped thus staying in the air for minutes on end. What everyone did see was Past, Present, and Future emerging from the whole in natural speed, all three making a large black aura around them. The minute they stepped on the floor time came back to normal and Arith came almost slamming into the Sword that was sticking out of Vergil but luckily, he knew what would happen and quickly took it out going for a brief second into devil trigger to use the burst of speed. As Arith arrived his body, now back to normal came falling into her arms as she fell along with it, his head resting on her chest. Kimni had hit the ground and was looking around confused. She sat up rapidly and looked at Arith who was with Vergil and shouted at her.

"MOVE!"

Arith looked up and saw that Past was jumping in the air moving his hand towards him as Vergil body moved back to its standing position with the sword sticking through his chest In a matter of seconds. Arith was shocked and confused to see that Past had, well, reversed time. He came falling behind her and pushed her straight into the sword making the last noise heard was her shriek in pain as she fell back, unconscious. Kimni moved towards her and it seemed even Vergil had tried an effort as he went into devil trigger taking the sword out from him and turning to see what had happened; Arith's unconscious body. Past was cheering, as his next target was Ayame but she was ready, she stood up letting Aranell be for a minute and threw a whole wave of water slam into him in mid air. It seemed their powers weren't affected by the time laps of the trio. Past came crashing on of the stone benches and got up starring at Ayame.

"Think you're so tough girl? Yo Present, back me up man!" Past said as he stood up looking at Ayame, Kimni had run to her side seeing that Vergil was aiding the fallen Arith. Past slouched down and above them Present appeared twirling in the air and flipping his sword as another time laps occurred, two Presents appeared in the air jumping towards Kimni and Ayame. The girls minds raised thinking that maybe one of them wasn't real thus they somersaulted backwards. Both Present hit the ground hard making some of the stone crack, obviously both were real.

Present was laughing as he walked towards them but Kimni was ready for this.

"Take that you show off." She said as Vines erupted from the ground wrapping around them. From the middle a familiar head popped out of the ground and gurgled laughing at the two captives who were shouting in fear. Kimni grinned gently seeing that the summoning was a perfect timing. "Good boy Sprout, now don't let them leave…" Ayame laughed at the two present and turned to see Past who was starring at the monster in shock. Sprout turned his head to see past and took a good hold of him as well, gurgling with delight as it gurgled its now giant head for Kimni to pet it. Ayame turned to look at Future who was standing beside Aranell looking down at her, his sword in his hand.

He couldn't kill her, not until he found out why he felt such an attraction to her, as if he knew her. Starring down at her he was angered that she had been hit with the staff she had fallen a victim too, and sadly, why it wasn't him that hat hit her. Vergil, who was picking up Arith's body starred at Future angrily, his wound healed. Future raised his sword and brought it down upon the ropes that tied Aranell down. She quickly stood up and starred at him for a while before jumping through the whole where Dante had been.

"Ah crap…" Ayame and Kimni said at the same time as they approached Future. He lifted his head up at them and scowled speaking through gritted teeth.

"You Elemental Guard are starting to pick a nerve. You've won once more but it seems we finally attacked your numbers…" he pointed at Arith in Vergil's arms who seemed to be as pale as Vergil. Ayame and Kimni were about to kick his butt when he disappeared along with the two Presents and Past, leaving them there starring at each other with the church music back to full volume. They all turned to look at Arith and walked towards Vergil who had now laid her over the alter and looked down on her trying to examine the wound when Kimni slapped him on the back of his head.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING UNBOTTONING HER SHIRT!" She shouted trying to push him out of the way, Ayame also tried to push him while Vergil struggled for them to let go. "Why do you consider me to be the pervert like my brother? I'm going to check the wound, see if its healing." His face showed determination and he sighed looking down at her. Thoughts were racing in his head as he stared down at the unconscious Arith. _Please don't die…not again… because of me…_

Ayame looked at Arith as she started moaning slightly and sobbing, she was all right. Kimni and Arith took her in her arms and once more Arith wailed in pain.

"Gah, let go, let go, it hurts!" Arith shrieked holding onto her stomach as they finally let her go. Kimni and Ayame turned to Vergil who was also looking at her relieved. "How did you do it?" Ayame asked seeing the cut through her shirt and realized it was gone. Vergil moved back and walked towards a bench to take a seat. "I'm guessing there was some of my blood on the blade and thus, when she was pushed towards it, some of my blood got mixed with hers and healed her."

While the girls were hearing this Arith started to cry hugging Kimni and flicking off Vergil out of hatred. He looked at her a bit shocked considering he had saved her live but she kept sobbing into Kimni's shoulder.

"What's wrong Arith?" Kimni asked patting her hair gently thankful she hadn't died. Arith kept crying and stopped sobbing just to tell her problem.

"I'm going to get aids and die from blood coagulation!" She stammered staring at Vergil heartbroken. The girls starred at her and then back at Vergil for an explanation, he starred back at Arith and the rest in rage and stood up walking towards them.

"For your information ms. 'I-go-to-Med-High', the human body makes blood every second. Used up blood goes to the Spleen where it is destroyed and made to make new blood. Considering you're too pure for your own good, any demonic blood left in your system will be excluded and terminated by your own white blood cells and those that have been enhanced by your element, Demon blood doesn't have such a weird thing to it." He turned once he finished and heard Arith sigh with relief.

"Better be, or I'm killing you." She laughed after she said this and tried to stand up with some help from Ayame who turned around at the sound a door slamming.

"Wait…isn't that, Aranell?" Ayame said as a figure walked out from one of the confessional booths buttoning up her shirt and smiling happily. Vergil stood up and shook his head.

"Oh brother…" He said under his breath as Dante tumbled out holding his cloak around him tightly and backing away from Aranell. "SHE'S CRAZY MAN, GET HER AWAY FROM ME, I TOLD HER I DIDN'T WANT HER MAN!"

Vergil looked around desperately for the staff once more and found it at last under a bench and picked it up over his head. "Good Riddance" and smashed it onto the Alter Arith had once been. At once, a change came upon Aranell as she staggered and fell flat on her face then got up looking around confused. The other girls walked to her and helped her up. She looked down at herself and gasped seeing that her shirt was half buttoned. "What the hell? What happened? Who did this shit?" She stammered turning to the glaring glances of the girls at Dante who was now standing and starring at the broken staff sadly.

"Dante hit you with the staff of Nymphus." Ayame stated as Aranell got up and ran to tackle Dante.

"YOU BASTERD, YOU PERVERT!" She shouted now kicking him on the floor.

"Babe, you didn't catch it and you jumped on my-"

"SHUT UP!" Aranell shouted kicking him where he was about to say and he shrieked running for the door.

"Damn I'm out babes… get home I'm going to go into hiding until this chick calms down." He said as he opened the church doors. Vergil stood there still beside Arith who had now placed her hand on his arm for support and laughing. Kimni and Ayame were also laughing and looking around at the mess of the church. With one last glance as Aranell ran out the door after Dante the rest followed suite and walked out to the now dark night. Ayame grinned looking at Dante and Aranell in the distance and turning to the girls.

"So, who wants to see Dante get castrated?" She mocked. Both Arith and Kimni cheered in agreement and started running. As they did, Arith stopped and turned. "Wait, what about…" But Vergil was gone. A slightly sad expression came over her face and she felt her stomach once more where she had gotten cut. He had saved her life… she was indebted to him. She looked around trying to find him but Ayame and Kimni's screams made her turn.

"Hey Arith you coming?" They shouted stopping to wait for her. Arith turned to them and grinned. She'll buy him something as a thank you she thought as she caught up to the other girls and started running down the street into the night.

((ooc: now…this is where I take my break. Gosh, you Elemental Guard should be satisfied, I'm only posting this much of chapter 14 cause it was to long, the rest I shall add it to Chapter 15 along with Aranell's pet…woops….I just gave it away lol to the people who didn't know))


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER 15**

It seemed that the chase after Aranell and Dante would have lasted all night if the three girls didn't go home and put an end to it. It seemed they had been running all around New Jersey with no signs of Aranell and the Albino idiot. Ayame had gestured here and there at clues left on walls, streets, and even fallen lampposts. With a frustrated sigh, Arith lifted her cell phone to her face and squinted at it looking at the time…

"1:34…. in the freakin morning…honestly…" She said cursing into the winds as she paced about the spot they had momentarily stopped to take a breath. Ayame looked at Arith in agreement and turned to see Kimni taking a seat on one of the available benches; her asthma was kicking in and she was still a bit tired from the earlier fight and school.

"We have school tomorrow…" She groaned angrily as she stood up starring off into the upcoming street. "If she wanted to get Dante that bad, I don't think running after him is such a good idea… how dare she!" She shrieked through clenched teeth as she brought her hands firmly over her chest, Ayame and Arith couldn't help but grin.

"What's the matter Asuka? ((ooc: That's her last name…. Kimni's I mean)) Feeling jealous? Mad that Aranell is messing with, 'your man'?" Arith smirked walking towards her like some crazy ghetto person giving off a rap. Ayame stood beside her and started chanting in the most annoying high-pitched voice she could alter.

"Kimni and Dante sitting in a tree…"

At this, Kimni's hair turned a greenish color and a strange green glow appeared around her, even Sprout who had been trying to climb up her back moved away in alert.

"F-U…"

"KNOCK IT OFF!" Kimni finally burst out stretching her hand out towards them and dozens of vines erupted from her hand aimed at the two drunkard looking singers. Amazingly, both girls were able to evade Kimni's attack and laughed as they fell sideways on the street and pointed at the angry earth fairy in front of them. There was something about her though; she was looking horrified at something behind them…

"Pugnacious…I see." ((ooc: Heck yes! Mrs. Torres be proud!)) A cool voice said from behind them followed by a small whimper coming from Kimni as she stepped back. Arith and Ayame turned to see Vergil ripping the vines with Yanmato. At once, Arith got to her feet and grinned. "Vergil, what a…. what are you doing here?" She said trying to sound rude as always but couldn't help to add the slight happiness in her voice from seeing him again. Ayame and Kimni noticed and so did Vergil, he didn't respond as he stepped over the vine Kimni had attacked him with and sheathed his sword giving Arith a small smirk. "How can I sleep with such a ruckus?" He exclaimed sending a stern look at Ayame and Arith "especially when the topic isn't that decent…"

"Shut up faggot…" Arith said shaking her head in dismay, ignoring the angry look from Vergil as she pointed at him accusingly. "Ever since when did you sleep?"

"The minute my 'human' mother gave birth to me…" He growled angrily not caring if this sounded to harsh, it didn't seem to because all three girls shook their heads not believing a word he said. Time to change the subject…

"If you want to find Dante and Aranell, I know where to get to them. And if you…" He looked at Kimni specifying he meant her, "want to see Dante again, I suggest you take that insane midget off of him." He ended with clenched teeth feeling completely angry at the fact she was taking his kill. The girls didn't have to think about this one bit, Aranell had the power to kill anything in her way at this moment. Without another word or anyone deciding on it, Arith slammed her fist into her hand and grinned proudly.

"Go Aranell, that's our girl, can't blame her really. It was Future who got her hormones going." She smirked looking at Vergil who simply shifted his weight from his right to his left foot and turned soundlessly, walking. "Hurry up…you don't have all night."

This was true. Tomorrow was a Friday and from the looks of the three girls faces, they hadn't finished doing their homework. Arith sighed gently starring at Vergil in rage for having had brought up such a subject. Not that it was delicate or anything it was just, why bother bringing up something so unimportant when it comes to saving the world? The three girls started following Vergil as he led the way down the street, not speaking and only his cloak and boots made any other noise. Arith was holding on to Kimni's arm as they three walked in a straight line with Ayame holding on to Kimni's other hand. It was an awkward silence as the girls followed the blue Albino to who knows where when Kimni heard a small giggle from beside her. Arith was obviously enjoying the rear view thus Kimni just frowned and turned her head away trying not to look at what was causing the poor girl to freak. Ayame had caught a few sounds of giggling and hushing and thus, she turned to see what was up.

As the girls were trying to calm Arith down who just looked at them angrily and pointed at Vergil giving him thumbs up, Vergil stopped and made Arith crash into his back, it seemed forever to see her back on her feet looking at the back of Vergil's head which tilted gently. His shoulders shrugged and his voice sounded impatient.

"Arith, grow up." Was all he could say behind a hidden grin, Ayame and Kimni started laughing at the shocked Arith who was about to lunge at his back if the girls didn't stop her. They kept walking.

After a while, Vergil stopped them once more Arith came crashing onto his back. He turned just in time to catch her before she tripped on his sword.

"How about warning us when you stop, blue 1?" She grumbled hesitating to move his hands away from her, he simply shook his head in annoyance and turned to the main street, "Calloway Road." He said and then faced towards the east where Aranell was kneeling down in the middle of the road holding something that looked a lot like Dante's gun holster. Kimni at once assumed the worst.

"ARANELL!" She screamed as she took a few steps towards Aranell but Vergil stopped her, holding her firmly from her elbows. "Not yet…" He whispered nodding towards the other end of the street where Dante landed and shouted in rage and arching his back in pain. Kimni felt slightly awkward to be restrained by Vergil and turned to look at Arith for help; Arith simply put a face like ' I told you so' kind of thing. The three girls turned to Dante's shocked and angry face to Aranell's evil grin.

"Damn babe, somebody has a bad case of pmsing…" he said trying to touch his back to feel where she had torn the gun holster and cursed into the winds, which only made Aranell angrier. She stood up and pointed at him angrily, the wind started picking up and fluttered her curly hair gently. "You are going to pay Albino Idiot…you are going to wish you've never been born!" She shouted, the wind picked up steadily. Dante looked at her mockingly and started walking towards her, taking his sword from his back. With a grin, he raised his sword towards her and pointed at her like a piece of cloth. He then laughed seeing the wind around him picking up.

"Listen sweetheart, you didn't have me, is that why you're angry? I left you unsatisfied?" his hand twirled Rebellion on his palm and raised his other hand to shake it disapprovingly at Aranell. " Sweetheart, if you want me, just ask. I know what the ladies want."

"Yeah… that's why he ran out of the confession booth scared to death…" Arith snorted standing beside Vergil and Kimni with a grin over her lips, the others grinned as well and Kimni added plainly. "He's just another panicky virgin in our minds, isn't he?"

Vergil chuckled quietly hiding his mocking grin from Kimni as she said this and under his breath he muttered loud enough for her to hear. "You should know right?" Before she could stammer at this, the wind caught them by surprise as they were all propelled forward. Vergil made a perfect timing in catching Kimni and Arith; Ayame had held on tightly to Kimni's arm that she too got saved. Dante on the other hand, was flying in the air towards Aranell, his sword out and his face blank and shocked.

"Oh god… what the hell?" Arith shouted over the rushing noise of the wind almost making it impossible to breath or speak. With effort, Vergil moved Arith and Kimni beside him in order to take a firmer grip on the three, he placed Yanmato on the floor in front of them so that if the wind became that strong, they could hold on to that. He held Arith firmly from her waist as they were all on their knees and another over Kimni's arm, the other girls were holding onto Ayame tightly practically sitting on him or just really close to him for fear of being dragged away, his eyes were looking intently at Dante's sword.

"COME ON ARANELL, STOP IT!" Ayame shouted but it was no use. Aranell turned her purple eyes to meet Ayame's glance and saw how desperate she was, but she didn't stop. She raised her hands in front of her, a purple glow taking over her body, the wind picked up.

"Ah crap…. what the hell is she going to do! Why hasn't Dante reached her yet!" Kimni shouted in desperation having a hard time breathing and turned to look at Arith who was looking at Vergil intently. Her eyes finally met Arith and she frowned, Arith simply nodded towards Vergil's face, which was now grinning, no common sense that what was happening could even kill them. The piece of yellow fabric that was tied to Vergil's blade started doing something odd, even Ayame who was practically on Vergil's chest (for Arith had taken a sort of comfortable position on his lap) pointed at the fabric shocked.

"Here it comes…" Vergil said so calmly. One minute the wind was gushing like mad, the next it seemed everything stopped, like in the eye of a tornado. The place became calm yet the thundering noise of the wind was still there, so distant. One could say time slowed down but it didn't, they looked on as Dante started to loose speed, as the purple glow around Aranell intensified and as a visible gust of wind started taking form in front of her. Everyone was in aw; even Dante was looking at her quizzically.

"What the fu…" Dante said and it sounded so clear as if he were talking normally. Arith stretched her hand to the fabric that was hovering gently in the air and took hold of it, it moved with her force but still, it seemed attracted to whatever was forming in front of Aranell. She gasped gently as Vergil took a firmer grip around her waist and Kimni's arm. "Don't think we're out of it… that griffin isn't finished making its entrance." He said and pulled her back with him.

"Wait… what griffin?" The three girls said at the same time as the glow erupted and the wind came back by full force. Dante once more picked up speed and was about to tackle Aranell and pin her when something came jumping on him throwing him back across the expense he had been flying. The wind stopped, silence took over the roaring noise of the wind and Arith's laughter broke the silence as everyone turned to see the sprawled figure of Dante on the pavement with something glowing purple over him. Aranell was exhaling deeply not knowing what just happened and ran at once towards Dante.

"Oh Dante, I'm so sorry, I didn't know that I was going to kill you…. I mean, I wanted to but…. you know?" She said as the others joined her side, Vergil took a while for he was getting his sword and stood beside the girls looking down at Dante angrily. Arith bent down and poked whatever that purple thing was and received a smack on the head by Kimni.

"Gah, the hell was that for?" She shouted standing back up and glaring at Kimni as she rubbed her head. Kimni just looked at her shocked, "You don't know what it is and you touch it? Have you not learned anything these couple of weeks!" Vergil walked forward between the two girls in order to hush them and kneeled down taking the purple thing in his hand. The girls gasped as the purple aura started disappearing and the figure became more visible.

"It's a griffin, beautiful and honorable creatures of the past. They were said to be the lords of the wind, nothing could fly faster or be as strong as these creatures." He raised it up gently still holding the small thing in his hand and showed them the talons in its paws and the beak. "Don't be fooled, it's small now but as you can see, the talons are sharp, the beak is strong, it can still kill someone." The griffin pawed at Vergil's hand and made a weird noise that sounded like a combination of a cat and dog. The girls awed at it as Vergil gave it to Aranell to hold and they all pampered it for a while. A groan coming from Dante tore their attention from the Griffin, now dubbed as Talon, and at once, it jumped on Dante's chest curling up into a ball and pretending to sleep. There was a silent moment where Aranell starred blankly at the curled up ball on Dante while Dante just starred at it not knowing if to pet it or to punch it.

" That is one messed up looking griffin." Arith said breaking the silence as she stretched a hand out to poke it again, Vergil took her hand in his in order to lead it away from the poor creature, Aranell starred angrily at Arith. "You're just jealous you don't have a pet yet…" Aranell said sophisticatedly taking up the griffin from Dante's chest, Kimni and Ayame helped him up. On the other hand, Arith just smirked and started laughing. "Yes dude, all that wind…. practically killing us and THAT little fur ball comes out? Some powerful thingy indeed." She giggled taking her place beside Vergil still not letting go of his hand; Dante was the only one who noticed.

"The hell you doing here AGAIN, Vergil… stalking Arith I see?" He said as he moved away from Kimni and Ayame fixing his torn coat, his eyes kept darting from their held hands to Vergil's blank stare. "Get out of my face… just cause the ladies are present doesn't mean I can't kick your ass…"

"Are you insinuating I'm up to no good?" Vergil taunted in his drawling voice moving Arith's hand together with his other hand, thus moving her in front of him. He gently patted the top of her head and grinned gently. "I wouldn't harm them, I think you know that."

"Well how funny is that, you appear when something happens…"

"That's only because you have no clue as to what is going on half the time, Dante-"

"Don't you tell me that crap!" Dante shouted grabbing hold of Arith protectively, something about this whole thing had seemed to trigger a memory in him. Seeing Arith and Vergil like that remembered him of what he was supposed to have had done… " I think you should keep your big ugly nose out of our business. The Elemental Guard is in charge now…" He stammered ignoring the struggling that came from Arith in his arms, the other girls starred at the two not understanding the twist of such mood. Ayame took a step forward.

"Come on fellas… no need to get hasty-"

"Silence Ayame. This isn't your fight…" Vergil growled angrily looking at Dante and being strongly offended by his mood, he moved to turn around, Dante glaring after him.

"Yeah, you better run away, faggot! Don't think I don't know what you've been doing these couple of nights…. next time you try sneaking into Ariths room, how about making it a bit more discreet, some people are trying to sleep!" He shouted angrily tightening his grip around Arith. The girls gasped, Vergil stopped walking and Arith's foot came behind her trying to hit him where it hurt, but he held her tight.

"At least I let her know I'm coming…. unlike Felicia on the other hand." Vergil said calmingly turning around to face Dante with a credulous face. He darted towards Kimni who, like the other girls, was starring at Arith in amazement, turned slightly in time to realize she had heard such a name… Felicia…

Dante seemed to be angry at this and quickly let go of Arith knocking her hard on the floor. He leaped towards Vergil who was all ready running up the building wall. "GO HOME, NOW!" he screamed behind him to the girls and followed Vergil out of sight leaving the girls shocked with Ariths whimpering to break the silence.

"It's always me, man. Why is it always me… I'm going to die and by Dante's hand, I swear!" Arith wept standing up by her own accord. The other girls quickly turned her around and pushed her towards a wall.

"AND WHEN WERE YOU PLANNING ON TELLING US THIS!" Kimni shrieked in a whisper shaking her head in shame.

"Shame, Arith… shame…" Ayame mumbled laughing at the horrified face Arith held. Aranell was the angriest; she quickly slammed her fist on the wall. "And then you get mad at me for looking at boys, at least I don't have one in my room!"

"Shut up! It isn't like that! Besides, you're the one that jumped on Dante's…. well you know…" Arith called pushing them away angrily, her hair had taken on the red streaks and got seem breathing room. " The only reason I didn't say much was because he told me not to…"

"Obviously…" Aranell shrugged shaking her head at Arith's naive ness.

"But you don't get it. He was afraid Dante would find out cause then, he wouldn't trust us." Arith stammered remembering their first meeting. Ayame stopped and took in Arith's words. "What do you mean?"

Seeing that it was no use keeping it secret…. no matter how many times she had hinted out Vergil had come to visit him more then once, she sighed and stood up straight giving them the truth. " You see, Vergil has his own problems with the trio… the other night he came around and tipped me off about this whole plot. He said something about you getting to the point of complete fury that would get you your pet, then he said we had to be careful at school tomorrow…. or better yet, today because the 'enemy is closer then it seems'. I told him he was crazy but he kept saying it was true."

"Wait, wait, wait…" Ayame cut in looking confused. "So you're saying that little devil boy can predict the future?" She asked slightly amazed. Arith laughed at this comment and shook her head. "Vergil can't… but Future can…"

"WHAT!" The other girls called out shocked. Arith just nodded angrily.

"And you'd think Dante would have told us such a thing." She said shaking her head angrily towards the direction the two had disappeared.

"What do you mean? Dante knows about this?" Ayame called out scratching her palm at such a discovery.

"Yep… bastard is keeping a lot of things from us. Did you know Present is useless? Without him, the trio can't stop time completely. All we have to do is kill him and that's that!" She protested starring angrily and hurt at the others. "And to think, he just wants us here with him and makes up all these excuses for us not to leave…" The last part seemed to echo hesitantly in the end and the girls just looked at each other a bit shocked. Ayame sighed and put a hand over Ariths shoulders that seemed to have started to shake. "It's all right. We can talk to Dante tomorrow. Now, we got to get home, eat and sleep. Who's with me guys?" She called happily. The others girls shrugged and trudged on behind Ayame feeling practically odd and mad that Dante and Vergil had ruined the magnificent moment of Aranell getting her Griffin. Arith was holding Kimni and sighed gently.

"Dante made me seem real dirty… it's not like if I haven't tipped it off and shown it, yah?" She said nervously and twitched when Kimni patted her back gently. "It's all right, we don't blame you…"

"You don't?" Arith blinked mesmerized.

"Not if you give us details…" Aranell grinned standing beside the frowning Arith as the others girls laughed down the street.

It was three in the morning and Ayame kept rubbing her eyes in order to try and keep the sleep from her eyes, it was no use. She turned her head, which seemed to take a lot of effort considering she was tired and starred at the other girls. Aranell was holding her Spanish book really close to her face just to try to keep awake, Kimni was messing with her calculator trying to sum up some logs and Arith, bless her soul, she was starring at her English book with tears streaming down her cheeks, Ayame sighed.

"What's wrong Arith?" She said, trying not to yawn but found it was no use; she had to let her body share its thoughts. Being addressed, Arith lifted her red shot eyes to see Ayame and sobbed gently. "I can't…. get past…. the first…page…" With this she brought her sleeves to wipe her tears away and sneezed. "Allergies…. are kicking in… to late…" She sneezed once more and toppled her book over to Aranell's textbooks. Kimni, whom had torn her eyes and fingers away from the calculator starred as Aranell tried to cuss Arith out for messing with her but couldn't and Arith was starring longingly at the stairs. She too had enough.

"God! We can just do this tomorrow! Why do you have to change our sleeping habits because of something so stupid as Homework! We'll get it done in the morning!" Kimni protested slamming her textbook shut and closing her calculator in rage. The other girls starred at her and this caught her off guard.

"What?"

"Weren't we waiting for Dante?" Arith said gently turning her head slowly to look out the kitchen window, pitch black. Kimni sat back down; she was about to run up the stairs and sighed. "He's probably all right, he wouldn't like us to wake up tired." Kimni added gently rubbing her eyes irritated.

"But I'm nervous. What happens if Vergil killed Dante? What happens if instead of Dante, Vergil pops out of no where and makes us his fighting slaves?" Arith added, tears streaming down her cheeks once more. Aranell starred at her and grinned, " I'm pretty sure you don't have a problem with that now do you, Arith?"

It took Arith a while to answer considering she was a little out of it but then giggled madly nodding her head in agreement. The other girls shook their head in shame. Without another word, Ayame stood up and pointed towards the stairs.

"All right, everyone to bed. I shall leave a letter for Dante here on the refrigerator asking if he's all right." She mocked adding another yawn as she helped Arith to her feet. "Screw the books, we'll get them in the morning….oh wait, it is the morning…" She said and her face showed signs of pain and anguish. Aranell and Kimni stood back as Ayame and Arith made their way upstairs and couldn't help but feel sorry for Dante. With a last pat and some few confident whispers saying, "He'll be okay… let him get home, I haven't finished my fight with that bastard…" Aranell was off. Kimni realized she was alone after a few minutes of dozing off and realized Ayame hadn't written a letter to Dante, she quickly tore out a piece of paper and scribbled rapidly and as neat as she could.

Hey Dante! Are you okay? If you are, then tell us. We went to sleep so hope you're okay…. We all do care so don't feel bad.

-KIMNI

P.S: Aranell still wants to kill you… just so you should know. '

So, it wasn't the smartest thing to say in a letter to someone you were going to see in the morning but something was something. With one last look at it she quickly made her way upstairs and fell asleep the moment her head banged onto the hard pillow.

There was a weird smell in the air, something like wet wood. Was it raining? Wait… what would raining have to do with anything, the palace was completely of marble and stone… what was this smell? Even though Felicia distinctly remembered it had been a warm day the day before, why was it so bloody cold! With a last sigh of defeat to sleep, she tossed the covers away from her and sat up, only to be shocked with what she saw.

This wasn't her room, this was someone else, where was her bed, why did her bedspread have ugly engravings of flowers that were pitiful to look at? Why was her door painted green if she had distinctly ordered a gold colored door? She felt something move from under the covers and gasped jumping out of the bed.

"What in earth's name…" She gasped gently as she recognized a few green vines popping out from the edge of the bed. With a sigh of relief she lifted the green little bundle that was Sprout and cradled it in her arms. "Oh hello there my little friend. You gave me quite a fright!" She laughed at this and placed it back on the bed. "Do you know where we are, my dear?" She asked quizzically moving her head to and fro in order to make sure she didn't miss anything. Something lingered in the air, the smell of wet wood. Looking down at the creature, she frowned gently as it tried to snuggle back into the covers shivering.

"Yes… it is quite cold…I wonder why the sun is not up, could something have happened to Marie?" Felicia muttered and bit her lower lip walking to the door. Sprout looked at her quizzically and cooed in order for her to come back to bed, Felicia just shushed it. "Quiet! You don't want to get caught if we are behind enemy lines, now do you?" And with that she was out of the room.

Where in heavens name could the rest of the girls be? This place didn't look familiar and the smell of wet wood was intensifying as she walked down the main hall. It seemed this hall connected different doors but there was one door in particular that stood out. Without further ado, she made her way to it and knocked gently.

A distinct groaning noise caught her attention from the other side of the door and at once knew whose voice it was. With eyes shinning so bright with their green tinge, she quickly opened the door and closed it, making sure to lock it. She had been right…

"Dante…" Was all she could breath as she starred at the lying figure on the bed in front of her. The bed was between two windows showing off a slight silver color from something shiny outside. Felicia realized it was raining outside… probably Katherine's doing… and that it wasn't even sunrise yet. The room was dark except for the non-extinguishing light coming from outside and she could barely tell Dante's outline in the dark. With such grace and ease she made her way to his side and sat gently on the bed beside him caressing Dante's cheek gently.

It was probably his fault they were here. Maybe he had 'kidnapped' her again and taken her there for fun. Either way, she wasn't complaining. With a last gentle caress on his cheek and a shiver from the intensifying cold, she lay down beside Dante and sighed feeling his hands at once wrapped around her waist and his body change position closer to her. It felt as if she hadn't seen him in a long time, as if something had happened and had separated them. The thought of such a thing brought fear into Felicia's mind and she quickly turned around and buried her face in Dante's chest that evidently woke him up.

"Hu…. Whoa… Babe, what's wrong?" He said gently, his voice still showing tiredness as he tried to move his hands away from her in case she would slap him. Felicia raised her head and looked into the outline of his face seeing his eyes shine gently and visibly, she smiled gently and moved in to give him a smooch, at once Dante took up defensive action.

"What the hell!" He shouted as he jumped off the bed holding the sheet around his waist trying to hide the fact he slept commando and starred blankly at Kimni who was starring at him blankly and hurt on the bed. "Kimni…Err… are you okay?" His voice shook as he tried to keep a straight face and forget this ever happened. Felicia at once stood up and frowned moving across the room towards him. "What is your problem? Do you not wish to see your lover today?" She snapped angrily taking a good look at him and then took a hold of the sheets trying to pull them away.

"KIMNI! I DON'T THINK THAT'S SUCH A GOOD IDEA!" He shouted trying to push her away and trying to keep himself covered. Felicia at once shouted with rage. "WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME KIMNI? WHO THE DEVIL IS THIS KIMNI!" She shouted starring up at Dante's confused face hurt. Gently and stealthily, Dante moved his hand to turn on the light and looked at Kimni a bit shocked and worried. "Wait, what did you say?"

"I said who is this Kimni you speak of…. Some lover of yours?" She stammered angrily raising her hand to slap him but he stopped her hand with ease. Felicia couldn't help but blush at the peculiar look Dante was giving her.

"Who are you?" Dante said thinking the worst as he saw that Kimni wasn't her self. She might have been possessed or worse, replaced. Felicia looked up at him hurt and turned to walk to the door about to open it; Dante was a bit to fast for her of course and appeared in front of her blocking the door. Felicia pouted angrily and turned around to the window, Dante quickly took her arm hard and pulled her to look at him. "I said who are you?"

"WHO ELSE COULD I BE! FELICIA, MY LOVE, FELICIA!" She stammered quickly feeling her heart ache having to have to answer such a question from the very man she had given her love to. Dante was shocked, he couldn't say anything. How could she possibly be Felicia, Kimni's past incarnation? He looked down at her and saw her looking back up completely hurt and sad. Was Kimni messing with him? But no… she wouldn't have known who Felicia was. Seeing that Kimni was about to walk to a window, Dante involuntarily grabbed her by her hand and pulled her towards him in a sweet embrace. Felicia smiled gently and hugged him back yet Dante felt so awkward. It was Kimni he was hugging, the 15 year old who was obsessed with spaghetti, why was she saying she was Felicia?

"Don't do that again, love. You gave me quite a fright…." Felicia said gently moving away from him in order to caress his cheek again, Dante's eyes shined entranced by what he was hearing, what he had in his arms.

"Felicia?" He said gently. She simply blushed and leaned forward on her tiptoes about to kiss him, Dante showed no signs of stopping her this time.

"GAH! DIE YOU EVIL FIEND, YOU SHALL TASTE MY RATH!"

Felicia stopped and gasped hearing Marie's shout. Her face was only inches from Dante's and he still stood there waiting for her kiss… yet it never came. He was brought back into reality as Felicia pushed him away from the door and led him out the door to the screaming. Barely did he realize someone else had been screaming and quickly stopped running and starred at Kimni.

"Babe…. look at me!" He shouted pointing at his facade, with a sheet. Felicia couldn't help but giggle and shrugged shooing him to change.

"You owe me… hurry up then." She hissed as she made her way through the hallway and into a bedroom with a red door where the others girls stood over Marie. It seemed something was making a high-pitched sound, something like a song, and this was what was scarring the girls. Marie stood in front of the ringing and vibrating object, which happened to be Arith's cell phone, and turned when she heard Felicia's footsteps.

"Be careful Felicia… We don't know what kind of threat this being is…" Marie said darkly starring back at the cell phone in horror. Emilia was starring at Marie with hesitation as to push her out of the way and take on the cell phone herself. In this precise moment, Dante appeared holding Ebony and Ivory in defense position and stopped when he saw what they were all starring at a vibrating phone.

"Just answer it Arith…" He said as he took up sides with Kimni standing beside her and looking at her curiously. Felicia seemed to be ignoring his seductive glance and starred at him angrily.

"Who's Arith?" She quoted with a bit of sass as the other girls looked at him from the corner of their eyes; Katherine was the only one actually facing them for Felicia's sake. It seemed to Dante that there was something really wrong here, he lifted his gun to Marie and pointed at her. "That's Arith… you're Kimni, that girl" he pointed at the curly haired Emilia who had now turned to look at him directly, " Is Aranell…. Lastly comes Ayame. Now what the hell is going on?"

There was a small period of silence where the phone stopped ringing, Felicia tried to hold back tears and keep them hidden and the rest kept starring at Dante as if he had never been there before.

"What rubbish are you saying, Dante?" Katherine broke the silence with a silenced and sophisticated tone of voice… this caught Dante off guard completely.

"Yes, what is it that is troubling you, Dante?" Emilia added taking a hold of Marie's shoulders to push her away from the now silent and thus dead enemy. Marie kept grinning victoriously and lifted her fingers giving the phone a final sign of the cross. "Fire… always wins…" she said under her breath making Emilia roll her eyes proudly. "Excellent job Marie, you showed it!" After this, there was a quick movement of people as they all circled around Marie congratulating her in her fight, Katherine was kissing her forehead gently like a mother would and sent her off to pick up her prize; the body of the prey. As Marie pranced to the phone, she winked at Dante gratefully and took hold of the cell phone placing it in the pocket of the dress gown she wore. "It will be safe with me, another piece to my collection!"

"Indeed!" The girls cheered and laughed gently once more, Dante was hyperventilating now. Felicia turned curiously towards Dante and gave him a stern look of concern that meant more then the simple words her lips uttered. " Are you all right there, Dante?" her voice was slightly cracking for she couldn't help to feel panicky at the anxious look on his face. The others turned to see what was wrong and stopped when they saw the reaction of anxiety and frustration in his eyes.

"This can't be… Kimni…" He moved towards her reaching out in front of him. Something came smacking him on the back of the head hard, and thus turned to see what had caused it.

"Touch her once more boy, and your head won't be the only thing aching…" Katherine stammered quickly and flustered seeing that Dante would try anything in front of her. She gave Felicia a stern look but she just turned around and placed her hand on Dante's shoulders gently lifting up his face. He looked at Kimni… it was Kimni… that was the person who stood in front of him yet everything she did, how she acted was that of Felicia… his own love…

"GAH! Why the hell did you do that? A bit of a warning next time!" Dante growled turning to look at Ayame – it had to be Ayame, but yet still it wasn't, she gave a loud horrified gasp of rage and slapped Dante hard across the face making him stagger backwards gently. " A man never, and I mean NEVER raises his voice towards a lady…" She said adding a stare once more at Felicia who was helping Marie lift Dante up. With these few words she turned to the door. "Stay here…. I'm going to go find a bit of answers as to where we are and what are we doing here." Without looking back, Katherine was out the door before Dante's curses could reach her ears. Dante sat there starring angrily at the door and completely hurt. What was going on, why were they doing this to him, how did the girls know how to pass as 'them'? He hadn't realized that Marie was playing with his hair that had somehow become soaked… a bit of Katherine's doing. Felicia was looking at her attentively and realized what she was trying to do. While Dante was lost in his own thoughts, Marie had been pulling his hair back trying to make spike's appear just like Vergil's, that was enough for Felicia to call it a day.

"Leave his hair alone, Marie…" Felicia protested trying to bring his hair back to normal discreetly. (OOC: SAT word…. Heck yes!) Marie looked at her slightly hurt but moved her hands away from his head and brought them across her laps showing signs of regret. Emilia had been starring at them for a while and shook her head moving to get to the door. "You two… I swear, if you are not sisters, then I don't know what you are…" she stated giving them the goodbye signal as she too disappeared through the door. Dante starred after her and stopped feeling Arith pat him gently on the shoulder. He turned towards her and saw her worried face. "Are you okay Dante? You seem a bit too witty. What happened?"

Felicia seemed to want to hear this explanation as well and moved in front of him helping him up. Dante turned to Marie and held onto her shoulders. "Marie?"

"Yes?"

"Is this really you Marie?" He answered anxiously.

"Yes, it is I! The one and only!" She curtsied gently ignoring Felicia's angry stares. "What's wrong Dante?"

"If it's you, then tell me where 'our' secret stash is…" He asked nervously. At once, Marie's eyes opened wide in fear seeing that Felicia was going red in the face out of anger. "But Dante…she'lll hear…"

"TELL ME!"

"In the kitchens…behind the third cupboard where we stash the wines. The third bottle on the seventh row to the right holds a key in the hollow wood and the keyhole is on the barren wall." Marie spoke flustered and ashamed starring angrily at Dante. At once, Dante let her go and walked away from her. "That's exactly right…"

"Now you tell ME what's wrong with you!" Marie called out angrily but stopped at the noise of some random car alarm in the street. Her head turned to the window in fear and she moved her hand to his lips shutting Dante up. "Hold that thought. Tell it to Felicia… I'll go see what was that." She quickly ran off towards the door slamming it shut.

"But it was a car alarm! Don't you know what a car is!" He shouted angrily after her. Who knows what trouble these girls would get into. It seemed they were their old selves and only knew what they had back then. He was about to move after her when Felicia brought her hands around him. Considering it was Felicia in Kimni's body, it was pretty funny to see a small 15 year old hugging a big tall guy. He turned to her and saw her grin. "You still owe me… Let them get preoccupied. More time for our selves…" She winked. With one simple gesture of her arms, Dante fell to submission; he fell back on the floor and cursed under his breath as Felicia held onto his hand. He turned to give her one stern look and shook his head gently. "What do you want me to do, damnit?"

"Don't talk to me like that…. goodness…"Felicia scolded letting his arm fall. She moved towards the window and starred worriedly out. " You're acting really strangely… it is starting to sicken me…"

" I'm not doing this on purpose!" Dante protested standing up quickly and appearing behind her in a blink of an eye. He grabbed her gently by the shoulders and turned her to face him. "I don't believe you…"

"Believe me in what?" she said gently with a mixture of fear and worry, Dante simply let go of her and turned to walk to the door… there had to be an explanation and only one other person was coming into his mind now.

"Dante…." A small and sad voice called from behind Dante, he was afraid to turn. "Dante." Said the voice a bit more sternly. He couldn't help it. No matter how much this would hurt him he had to. He loved her still… he thus turned to face the Kimni who was obviously being possessed by her old self and waited there starring into her shinning green eyes. Her hair had taken on a green tinge and was slightly waving. To anyone who saw her, it was just Kimni throwing on a good light show, to Dante, the woman he had given everything for was standing in front of him with a broken heart. He didn't want her memory to remember him as a lousy and evil lover. She wanted him to remember him as he only man that ever really cared for her gave her everything he could. But Kimni… how could he do this to her?

Felicia walked to him and threw herself in his arms, he could only hold her tight and hope the nightmare would end soon. At that precise moment, a loud shriek was heard and a bang, it came from downstairs. Felicia let go of Dante quickly and gasped starring horrified at the door. "SISTER!" She shouted out loud taking a hold of Dante's arm and lead him downstairs. Marie, Katherine and Emilia were all starring at the fallen refrigerator who had toppled over and broken the kitchen table, it seemed Marie had opened the freezer and got scared that it was gold and making noise. Emilia stood beside it poking it with a leg from the broken table and grinned evilly. "I think it's dead…."

"MY FRIDGE!" Dante shouted running to its side. He fell on his knees looking at it desperately and growled with rage lifting his middle finger at Emilia. "DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING YOU…GAH!"

There was a disgusting sound of bone hitting metal as Katherine appeared behind Dante and smashed him into the refrigerators body. All the girls jumped back from the sound thinking that Katherine might have killed him this time but Dante growled and lifted his red face from the fridge and stood up. Felicia and Marie were looking at him worriedly but Emilia and Katherine were glarrign at him.

"You never die you filthy half demon…" Emilia sang gently shaking her head in shame. Katherine hushed her having had told her to never mock Dante for his half-breed genes, "How many times have I told you not to scream at the girls. You need serious manner lessons boy…"

The sound of a door slamming shut sounded from the main room, Dante turned and walked leaving the girls starring at the fallen bridge. " Screw me Katherine… I give a damn…" Before Katherine could protest Dante had all ready walked into the main hall where the very being he was not looking forward to seeing stood starring back at him in alarm.

" The Guardians…" Vergil breathed out desperately, it seemed he had been running or doing something that had taken a lot of strength from him. With these simple words, rage coursed through Dante lunging at him.

"You basterd, you did this…. feeling bad you killed her, did you!" Dante shouted bringing Vergil to the floor hard. With ease, Vergil was able to kick him off him and turned extracting Yanmato from its sheath, Dante was ready too, he held ebony and Ivory tightly and pointing directly at Vergil's heart.

"Dante listen to me…"

"You listen to me, why can't you just let me be man? Let them be too you fucking prick?" Dante shouted in anger as he shot at him, Vergil deflected them easily and brought himself to stand proudly in front of Dante. "They aren't themselves, I can't even bring the old guards back if I tried…" He spoke in an angry tone of voice. Dante quickly shot at him again but Vergil brought his hand to stop Dante from shooting by placing his hand right where the holes of the guns were. " Listen to me, we can't do anything about it!"

"What do you mean, how do you know?"

"It's inevitable for their past selves to try to take over again…. they are the same person just from different time periods. And as to how I know…. let's say the Trio knows more than they should…"

"Dante!" A voice cried out from the kitchen and both men turned to see who it was. Marie was starring at Dante angrily as he held guns against Vergil. How many times had those two fought? Dante hadn't realized and accidentally pressed the trigger making Vergil double back with holes in his hands. Marie shrieked and ran down to help him with the Guards after her. She quickly kneeled down beside Vergil and helped him up, it was no use considering he was capable of doing this himself but he couldn't help but he was to shocked to move, it was true, Future had been right all along.

"Dante! Honestly!" Emilia shouted giving him a descent punch on the arm, both Dante and Vergil made her sick. Katherine looked at Marie who was now pampering the shocked Vergil and gave her a stern look. Felicia had taken sides with Dante and glared at Vergil uneasily…those two girls, so stubborn and complete fools. Dante starred at Vergil who had now turned to face Dante, he had to trust him this time. "And how does it go away?"

"I don't know…. might wear off…"

"I thought you knew everything, faggot!"

"I don't work with the Trio if that's what you mean. I just know where to find the information!" Vergil shouted angrily bringing Marie to finally let him go. He turned angrily to her and mouthed frustrated. "Arith?"

"Arith? No. Marie…M-A-.." Marie said slightly sad looking away from him.

"I know that…" Vergil said impatiently looking at the rest. What were they going to do? They were vulnerable for the Trio and there was a deep secret he didn't want blurted out accidentally. Katherine was the one to break the awkward silence as she stepped forward importantly. "So… where are we?"

"I know where we are!" Marie called out throwing her hand gracefully in the air, Vergil turned to look at her, giving her a gentle curious stare, and it was odd to hear her voice once more. Marie at once blushed and ignored the looking Vergil as she spoke. " It seems this place is called the Devil May Cry agency and we are completely surrounded by enemies." She finished last stressing the word enemies meaning any electronic device and caused Vergil to give Dante a questioning look, Dante simply shrugged.

"What will we do about it?" Felicia said sounding businesslike and serious, Emilia cut her short and raised her hands in defense. "We will have to take them all on. I have no problem with that."

"Emilia, we do not know how many there are and besides, we still have no clue as to where we are."

Katherine seemed to be analyzing these arguments and sighed slowly clearing out her throat bringing order to the girls. "Guardians, we split up. Groups of two. Go room by room and eliminate anything that causes harm."

"WHAT?" Dante stammered taking into effect that they would destroy everything. Katherine starred blankly at him and frowned. "Oh right, you two have to be separated, you lack the knowledge to work as a team." She was referring to the two Sparda twins. The girls all nodded and were then separated. Ayame and Aranell took each other as partners and made their way to explore the first floor with their first stop the kitchen, they didn't trust the refrigerator. Felicia took team with Dante, who didn't really say anything but lead the way up the stairs cautiously. Marie and Vergil were left alone and at once, Marie took hold of Vergil's hand.

"Oh love, are you all right? I hope Dante did not hurt you as bad." She said examining his gloved hands; she was making to take off his gloves as Vergil swiped his hands away from her, starring at her angrily. Her shocked face looked up at him stepping back gently. He couldn't help it. He wasn't going to fall like Dante probably did and thus, grabbed her by an arm and pulled her to the sofa making her sit there. Marie looked up at him hurt and confused, Vergil kept pacing back and forth hating this false imitation of Marie.

"You can stop pretending now... you never did seem to take my word for it when I told you to 'grow up'." He growled angrily. Marie cowered there heartbroken, eyes glowing red and tears streaming down her cheeks. Why was he doing this? He had never seen him so angry, did she do something wrong? "Love, what's wrong…"

"Don't call me love you fake imitation." He spoke scowling down at her, keeping his chin up and chest proud and strait. He'd break her and see if she really was the actual Marie, it was what he did best. She was making efforts of standing to confront him but Vergil kept her down by walking really close in front of her. She raised her foot and tried to trip him, something she had done many times. "But love, I love you…you love me?"

"Do I…" He called, his voice sounding bitter and cold. Marie couldn't take it anymore, she raised herself to turn and leave but Vergil caught her in his arms. She squirmed for him to let go but he held her sternly, it was Arith after all right. He brought his hand gently to her cheek making her stop the squirming. She blinked gently and looked up at Vergil. "Vergil?"

He looked down at her seeing that she was actually sincere; it actually pained her to see him hurt her. He shrugged gently and let her go. Marie looked at him for a while and moved slightly closer holding his hand. "Vergil, are you all right, love?"

"Yes…. I'm sorry." ((Tsk…. how many times will this loser say he's sorry?)) He said in the end moving his head away from her stare afraid to be consumed by the tender flame growing in her pupils. He let his hands go limp hoping she would let go but Marie seemed defiant to do so. She stayed there for a bit in a tight embrace smiling at a random direction and Vergil only seeing the top of her head, he said impatiently. "Marie…"

"I feel as if I hadn't seen you in ages… what has gotten into you, why are you acting like this?" She breathed slowly having been aware of the low murmur coming from the kitchen where Katherine and Emilia were. Vergil stopped gently standing stiffly there giving the top of Marie's head a long stare. She didn't move, her ear pressed against his chest. Something about this scene made Vergil feel scared… this had happened before.

It had been a dark and sweet November night in the woods where they had always met, Marie had been holding her like this and then…and then…

His thoughts were answered as Marie let out a girlish giggle and lifted her head up and looked up at his face. Vergil starred down at her blankly but she ignored it. "You're heart is beating so fast love…" Marie blushed while Vergil stared. The two were looking at each other for a while until Vergil brought his hand once more to her cheek, she giggle and held onto her hand placing it on his cheek moving it gently to his hair. "Never seizes to impress love…"

Vergil grinned gently remembering the many precious moments he had spent with Marie and how angry Arith would be if he ever told her. Why was he acting like Dante at this moment…?

"I told you, human emotions are worth it." Marie said gently starring at the couch questioningly and then at Vergil with a grin, this creped him out. "How about we actually do our job for a change?" He said gently trying to refrain from bowing to her wishes; he knew what her mind was capable of. Marie scowled sadly but then let him on through the side hall until she stopped and opened the front door. Vergil wasn't expecting for her to attack out of the blue. Sure enough, poor Marie was screaming and shouting in horror at the many lights and cars and even people. She was about to throw a fireball at one of the cars as Vergil threw himself at her and dragged her back inside with her fit.

"GAH, LET ME GO, I'LL GET THAT EVIL FIEND!" She shouted angrily as Vergil tried to gag her but it was no use, her skin was burning him!

"Calm down! It's just a car!" He shouted trying his best to not hurt her. She was trying to get out of his arms and back out the door. "I'll destroy those fiends, they are no match for fire itself!"

"Oh who cares about that anymore!"

Katherine and Emilia appeared beside them and starred down at the two figures practically wrestling in the floor. Katherine raised her hands and clapped twice getting their attention, Vergil let go of Marie at once, and she gasped gently trying to catch her breath.

"What happened here?" Katherine stated plainly starring at Vergil evilly. Emilia butted in under her breath, "I think we know what happened here…"

"Shut up Emilia…" Marie growled as she stood up and pointed at the door. "There are huge monsters out there! I have never seen anything like it fearless leader! If it weren't for Vergil, I would have died…" she added with a soft sarcastic sigh of relief. Emilia looked at the two a bit questioning but lost interest and walked back into the kitchen, Katherine shook her head and followed. "Behave yourself Marie…" she called out before she disappeared.

Marie and Vergil were left standing there quite alone now, she giggled gently and turned around towards him. "I owe you one for the safe…" She said a bit lightheaded as she tackled him over the couch, poor Vergil hadn't been expecting this. He tried wiggling his way from out of her grasp but she was holding on tight and practically on him. He felt his face go hot and realized it had been a long time he had felt the feeling of nervousness. She was giggling gently her head under his chin as she starred at the big box a few feet in front of them that was a TV. "What's that love?"

"A television…" He breathed trying to keep his chest as straight as possible, from what he remembered, anything stimulated her to take the wrong impression. He moved his hand to try to sit her up but she didn't, her hands just tightened over his back which made him growl impatiently. Marie blinked as she turned to look at him, "what's wrong love?"

"I'm…err.. .Tired and my back hurts…"he said starring at her face now for she was now sitting on him and starring at him concerned. "Oh love, why didn't you tell me I was hurting you? Was it Dante, or maybe when you saved me from that deranged hose…" She pondered for a while pouting gently. Vergil was still trying not to move an inch or squirm; he was really uncomfortable in the position he found himself. He looked towards the TV and started looking for the remote, maybe that would freak her out. Then it hit him.

"What did you say?" He said gently moving his hand back to face her, she blinked as if coming back to reality and then hummed gently. "I'm sorry I was hurting you?"

"No…. about the deranged horse." He said impatiently looking up at her. She giggled gently and jumped crushing him gently ((ooc: Told you Kimni, you don't have it that bad…. BAD ALMA…. MY GOODNESS!)) Vergil twitched gently and tried to squirm himself out once more but it was useless. "And don't do that again…" He muttered. Marie looked at him questioningly and shook her as she leaned down to his face. "Look who's talking, you took the rescuing from that horse on Friday the same way…"

Vergil starred blankly and shocked. She was acting as if all this was recent. Were all the girls like this? He tried to put his head as far away from her as he could but it was no use, she was in control at the moment. He moved his head to look back at the TV and felt her whispering into his ear. "Don't you remember love? You took me to that small village at the end of the woods where we found that medallion with the bird on it, then you took me into the woods with the horses you had 'borrowed'?" She giggled. Vergil just gulped and took a deep breath, was he sweating? "Go on, it's starting to ring a bell. Was it after Emilia's birthday?" She giggled more and jumped once more ruffling his hair… he'd take that as a yes.

"You do remember you little thief… no one better then my lover…" She sighed gently moving his face to look at her, his eyes were squinting up at her as if trying to read her thoughts. He had to get her off, if his demon side was bad, his human side? She looked at him gently caressing his cheek gently. "Yes, my lover…" She repeated happily and under her breath. He knew too. Sadly, it couldn't be anymore. Marie was dead and thanks to him, Arith was here. It was only her spirit in Arith's body just like the other girls; they were all prisoners of their past selves. Marie was dead, they were all dead and the only livings were Arith and the rest. He considered himself dead, even Dante. This shouldn't be no matter how much it pained him, it had to end…. he had done wrong in involving those girls… was it because he missed her r just pure lust for power…Vergil moved his hands to her waist to move her off him but sadly and to his great horror, with a spur of sadness, she hugged his neck and leaned down, eyes closed, and pressed her lips to his…

"So, what's this called?"

"That's called a toilet…" Dante said pointing at it with a grin, it was hilarious to try to explain simple things as this to her, you should have seen the lamp. Felicia moved sideways to take a good look at the water in it and shook her head, "what happens? What does it do?" She said moving her hand to touch the water but Dante stopped her hand by holding it. "No, no, you never touch the toilet water, it isn't clean. People shit in these and then they push that handle, give it a try…" He said crossing arms with her beckoning her to push the lever, she did and at once jumped at the sound of the rushing water as it disappeared into the drain. She gasped with delight and jumped still holding on tightly to him. "It is amazing! This culture of people is so advanced!"

"Wait till I show you what music they play." Dante assured her with a peck on her forehead. She had all ready found interest in the shower stall. "What's this?" She called opening the door and peering in. She saw that a weird looking sprout was sticking out of the wall. Dante pushed her in and pointed at the sprout. "That thing is where water comes out from and people shower in here. Quite smart people aren't they?" He smirked. Felicia starred at the sprout a bit scared considering she was right underneath it, Dante grinned. "It won't sprout water unless you turn it on."

"How does it turn on?" She asked gently. Dante moved his hands to the handle and opened it, at once Felicia cried out in horror as steaming hot water fell over her. Dante caught her as she was falling and pushed her out. "Woops…" he grinned realizing she was wearing a white shirt as a nightshirt. "The evil people consider them traps, I should have warned you."

"BUT IT IS HOT!" She shouted glaring at the faucet in rage as steam started filling up the bathroom. "Curses…I'll kill it…. where's my weapons.." She muttered as she made her way to the door, Dante quickly took a hold of her and stopped her adding his seductive laugh. "Babe, honestly, we can just turn it off or fix it."

"Fix it?" Felicia stammered holding him tight, which was all Dante, wanted at the moment. "Yep, you can make it warm or cold babe, see?" He moved the handles a bit and now there was cold water, he moved it again and warm water was there. She starred at it confused. "It is changeable? What magic is this…" She said gently moving her hand through the water expecting something to burn or pop out. "Isn't it awesome?" He said holding her tightly brushing his cheek on hers, she giggled and pushed him off. "Now, now Dante, we have to clear out the place. Turn it off and let's get moving."

"But…but… you know what people from here like doing in these places?" He said pointing into the shower stall as Felicia finally managed to close the water, she turned to him and shook her head playfully angry. "Is that all you think about?"

"Maybe… sometimes… well, not really see, now a days I…"

"I don't want to hear it…" She said adding a small kiss on his cheek as she walked out the door Dante followed grinning. "You know there's a few bedrooms up ahead…"

"I'll think about it…" Felicia called; she was examining the pink door broom closet.

Meanwhile the other two were doing things they shouldn't, j/k , they are 24 or so, Katherine and Emilia were actually doing their job. They had stopped and examined the microwave and discovered it heated things!

"It is a dragon!" Emilia stammered pointing at it with an accursed finger while Katherine examined it more closely. "When have you seen a dragon like this?" She stated plainly.." This is no dragon…seems to me it is a demon from hell itself…" she stammered shutting its door. "Let's keep going, it doesn't seem to be causing harm." As she finished this, the microwave began to beep. Emilia pushed Katherine out of the way and gave the microwave a good chop; it just made it beep louder. "I THINK IT IS ANGRY!" She shouted and turned to Katherine who was all ready a step ahead of her. "Stand back!" She called as she twisted her hands gently throwing a gush of water at it. There were loud sparks that made the girls jump. It started from the microwave to the refrigerator the blender, toaster, everything seemed to be waking. Emilia looked around angrily and stood back to back beside Katherine. "I think you got the boss." Emilia said breathlessly seeing the toaster fly across the room.

"Excellent… we're surrounded…" Katherine called getting ready to use her powers once more, it seemed water was an integral ((ooc: watcha! Sat word!)) to destroying their enemies. The blender pop flew across the room and both girls rolled out of the way and out the kitchen. They caught their breaths and ran off to find the others. "Marie! Felicia! Where are you!" Katherine called out as Emilia smirked behind her. "We both know where they are…"

"Emilia, say one more comment like that and I swear…" She was just saying this to ease the uneasy feeling and anger swelling from the truth in Emilia's comment. As they were running through the hall, a wall exploded in front of them, a long electric cable hanged out shaking like mad on fire as the girls stopped. "SNAKES!" Emilia cried trying to turn back. "FIRE SNAKES!" Katherine corrected. She slashed it out of the way and they made their way through it and into the stairway hall. Katherine turned to the stairs and say that the lamp was flickering on and off, the lights were out.

"They know we are coming…" Katherine said, her hair going blue and glowing gently blue. Katherine started going up the stairs stealthily with her hands in defense. She missed a step and went falling down the steps, Emilia gasped and tried running blindly to her side when the ceiling exploded and sent her flying into the railing, her sleeve on fire. There was a loud ear splitting noise as Emilia was hurled downstairs beside Katherine and laid there gasping. The light flickered once and the girls were able to look at each other.

"Did you hear that?" Aranell said gently afraid to raise her head. "Yeah.." Ayame said seeing that her hand was on fire. "WHAT THE FUCK!" She shouted and started waking it to the floor putting out the flames. Aranell stood up and helped Ayame out, once the fire was extinguished they looked up at the stairs. "What the hell happened? Why don't I remember anything?" She said gently yet alarmed. Ayame was quiet trying to remember to but it was no use, they heard was some crazy girl screaming… It was no use to remember, that scream was the only thing in their heads at the moment. "Did you scream Aranell?"

"No… I thought it was you." She said squinting through the dark. "What about Kimni and Arith!"

"Ah crap!" Ayame said as she led the way upstairs.

Felicia and Dante had been starring out the window for the longest time, Dante holding her in his arms. "That car is a mustang, they were pretty back in the days…. the 2005 models are awesome…that's an Impala 95 I think. That's a bike and don't ask when it was invented cause I don't have a clue…"

"Dante?"

"OH! And that is a motorcycle! I've always wanted one, they look kick ass… you know, a red one to match my clothes and hair you know?" He grinned giving her a tight squeeze.

"Dante…" Said the voice more sternly and sounding different from Felicia's. "What's wrong babe?"

"LET GO OF ME YOU PERVERT!" Kimni shouted almost in tears with a red face as she tried to squirm away from him. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!"

"Felicia?" Dante asked gently and finally let her go realizing it was Kimni. "Oh crap…. see, I can explain…"

"WHAT AM I DOING HERE! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!" Kimni shouted feeling her nightshirt wet and noticing she smelled like Old Spice. Dante starred at her and grinned through the darkness. "See, you don't want to know… I can explain though…"

"OH MY GOD!" Kimni ran out crying towards the other girl's bedroom but saw that nobody was there until she stopped at Arith's bedroom. She hesitated to open it and finally did seeing that Arith was sitting on the bed with Vergil standing by the window a bit paler then usual. Arith held her elemental guard book open and was reading something in the very back when Kimni came in. She quickly lifted her tear stricken face and sobbed gently. "Kimni?" She sighed gently running to hug her. Kimni blinked and starred at Vergil angrily, he just sighed and scowled back. "What's wrong Arith?" She asked gently. Arith sobbed into her shoulder and sighed. "We were possessed man, we were possessed by our old self's… that isn't cool man!" She started crying once more as Dante appeared in the doorway followed by Aranell and Ayame. Dante glared at the site of Arith crying and Vergil in sight, what had he done now? He moved towards Arith and patted her back. "What happened?"

"Back off pedophile!" Kimni shouted and pushed Arith and herself towards Ayame and Aranell who were both standing there utterly confused. "What happened!" Ayame called patting Arith on her back and starring questioningly at Kimni.

"She says we were possessed by our old self's."

"What how?"

"Your old self's decided to come back." Vergil butted in pushing Dante out of the way. The girls looked at him a bit curiously and then at Arith. "How did they do it?" Ayame said gently patting Arith still as Vergil paced. "My guess is that they used your bodies as mediums, after all, you are them and they are you." He said emphasizing the last part with a sad tinge. Dante was growling again waiting to pounce on him as Vergil continued. "It seems one of you broke the bond and woke yourselves up. What they were doing here I still don't know…"

"WHO'S THIS BITCH Marie, EH?" Arith shouted turning back to him angrily. Vergil didn't look at her, his face going red once more. "She isn't a bitch…. you would be calling yourself a bitch."

"Look faggot… that 'bitch' is in my book and something really messed up happened to her. And obviously, you seem to know her 'very well'." She glowered. The other girls blinked. Kimni faced Dante and starred shocked. "I'm Felicia?" She gasped shocked gently remembering what Dante had said about her, he just nodded sadly and turned his attention to look at Vergil ignoring her eyes.

"And Aranell's Emilia, Ayame's Katherine." Vergil said. "Don't blame us, we only tried to contain you…"

"Contain me? BULL SHIT WATCHA!" Arith called angrily. Ayame hushed her with a light pat on the back and brought herself to stand in front of both Dante and Vergil.

"How about you two start telling us the truth, Hu? Who are they, what happened to our passed selves and why are WE alive. Who are the trio and what are they capable of doing. What are we trying to save the world from?" As she spoke, her eyes began to tear gently, Aranell was crying now. Vergil looked at Aranell and shook his head. "Why are you crying?" He said.

"Because…I think I know what happened to Emilia…" She felt her stomach gently to Vergil's surprise. "I think they killed her… when I woke up I felt cold, like if I had died…" She said gently. The other girls starred at her blankly and Dante starred at Vergil angrily. "You are going to explain to them." He said walking to the door. "I'm going to go see what damage you guys did…" He walked out leaving the girls starring at Vergil. This was going to be a long night…


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16 

It was two in the morning in New Jersey, the moon was up, the drug dealers were selling, and the lights in the Kitchen of the DMCA were on. There was an ominous tangible feeling around the kitchen where everyone stood, sat, or paced; Arith was on the counter top in a fetal position. It neither felt like if someone had died, no one looked at each other nor talked and the only noise came from the refrigerator motor that was sizzling in a corner with a few wires sparking here and there.

Ayame's eyes were fixed on it slightly confused, an icepack on her elbow. Aranell stood besides her looking at the floor like some crack addict on an over dose. Kimni was pacing around twirling her fingers about nervously giving the refrigerator a glance at times and then another at Dante, knife's flying towards him every time she looked at him. Dante was sitting on a chair, his eyes closed and meditating hating the awkward silence and knowing if he opened them, Kimni would kill him. His big brother was standing at the doorway to the living room, his hand on his temple giving Arith a few random glances at a time. No one spoke for what seemed hours. Finally, Dante gave up and opened his eyes glaring at Kimni.

"Can you stop pacing for just a minute…"

"WHAT!" She shouted at once jumping on her toes; she was really irascible considering she hadn't forgotten what he was doing to her in a vulnerable moment. The other girls snapped to life starring at Dante angrily, making Vergil huddle into the Darkness. Dante starred at Kimni's frightened expression and sighed gently speaking to Kimni as if she were a child.

"Listen, babe-"

"DO NOT CALL ME BABE!" Kimni interrupted bringing her index finger up to hush him. "You lost your privilege to call me babe!"

"What the hell is your problem? It wasn't my fault all this happened!" He shouted standing up and slamming his fists on the table threatening making everyone jump. Arith shrieked gently whimpering once more muttering about violations and men being jerks that Ayame moved beside her to hold her gently. Aranell moved beside Kimni who was shaking once more looking at the crazed Dante and shouted back at him, slamming her own fist on the table.

"You have no right to shout at us like that, especially Kimni!" She protested pointing at Kimni behind her. "You think we planned all this? We didn't! We could have died!" She protested furiously her eyes going slightly teary. She stepped back and crossed her arms in front of her. "What if it happens again…. Why did this happen in the first place…" She remembered that awkward feeling as if she had died and brought herself beside Kimni once more shivering gently. Dante starred at Aranell for a while and finally sat down trying to calm himself down. He didn't know either so why bother fighting about it. A spark sounded from the refrigerator as Vergil stepped into the light of the kitchen looking pensive and distraught.

"There is an explanation to all this…"

As he finished his sentence, Arith blinked and picked up her head to glare at him speaking in her arms thus sounding muffled.

"What the hell would you know pedophile-"

"Sorry, didn't catch that…" Vergil interrupted quickly turning to look at her again; this made her gasp in fear and cried into her arms, Ayame patting her shoulder smoothly. Dante glared at Vergil raising his gun, Ebony, at him.

"What the hell did you do to her you egotistic freak?" He growled. Vergil blinked gently and moved to look at Dante directly with a smirk. "Don't worry, it wasn't as bad as pinning Kimni to a shower stall…"

"OH MY GOD!" Kimni shouted covering her ears trying to ignore what Vergil had just said. Dante went red in the face and stood up about to punch Vergil when Arith shouted for them to stop. They both turned and starred at her seeing that she was now speaking to them directly.

"What happened to the Elemental Guard? They obviously knew you people-"

"A bit too much by the looks of it…" Ayame interrupted ignoring the glares from both Kimni and Arith. Arith went on:

"Anyway…there has to be a reason why they took over, right?"

"There is." Vergil said gently not looking at her but at the refrigerator that had turned on again. "Considering you were all killed prematurely-"

"Yeah killed by this basterd…" Dante stated plainly waving his gun at Vergil disgusted and angry. Vergil starred at him menacingly.

"I didn't kill them…"

"Oh really, prove it then!"

"Why would I kill my own lover, Dante? If I remember correctly, even you were attacked by the murderer… don't put the blame on me because you don't know half of what I've been through…" Vergil stated profoundly looking at the floor now. It wasn't common to see him showing any human emotions but now, it was eminent that he was at his peak. Dante starred at Vergil slightly and then at Arith as if worried something was wrong with her.

There was again that awkward silence no one likes and thanks to Kimni, it broke only to bring back another unpleasant discussion. "So, who was the murderer?"

"Vergil."

"Damn it Dante!" Vergil spat tapping his foot on the wooden floor impatiently. "How can I be the murderer if one, I wasn't the one who attacked you along with everyone else and two, I was; shall I say, not present at the moment…"

Dante scowled checking how many bullets were left on his handgun still ignoring Vergil's eyes. "So you say…"

Although no one noticed, a chain was working in Vergil's brain, he was trespassing a line that he didn't want anyone to tread on… he had to change it around, for his sake.

" I think it's all ready bad that you kept there past identities secret, Dante. What more are you going to hide from them!" Vergil shouted pointing delicately at the direction of Arith and Ayame were at considering they were the closest. At once, Dante stood up his semi paternal emotions kicking in.

"Look, I only did that for their protection…"

"Yeah…" Aranell cut into the conversation standing between the two to catch their attention. "To try to score with Kimni?"

Dante blinked and scratched his head frustrated correcting Aranell, "Felicia….I was trying to score with Felicia…"

"WHATEVER!" Kimni protested grabbing her napkin, making it into a ball, and tossed it at him with all the force she could exert on it… sadly, it wasn't much. "That was NOT Felicia you were pinning in the bathroom stall, that was NOT Felicia you were holding and… who knows what your hands where trying to do, by the window sill so don't tell me I'm Felicia cause I'm not!" As she said the last sentence, she had started to shake and shrieked angrily seeing Dante's lips curve into a smirk at her words. She cursed and turned around to walk off.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!"

Dante held onto her hand as she passed trying to stop her but that only caused him to receive a nice slap in the face as she ran upstairs. Aranell starred after her and then turned to the others, "Come on guys, leave these perverts to themselves maybe they might kill each other if we're lucky." With that said, they all made their way up the stairs, Arith taking the rear. When she passed by Dante, she turned to look at Vergil. "Both of you are going to get castrated… you just wait…" She ran off with the others leaving the twins alone in the Kitchen with the sound of a slamming door ringing in their heads.

There was an awkward silence once more but not so hostile as when the girls were present, in the end, Dante broke the silence stretching in his chair proudly.

"Though… I must admit, I did need THAT after all those years…" He said almost in a whisper in case any of the girls were spying. Vergil looked at him disgusted and paced about frowning. "I didn't know you found pleasure in a naïve and pre- mature 15 year old."

Dante frowned and stared at the back of Vergil's head angrily not understanding why he was acting so haughty over such a stupid discussion. Didn't he feel the least amount of happiness to have met his lover again that reminded him; Arith was crying when he saw her again.

"What did you do to Arith…" Dante asked suspiciously feeling like an idiot for not having asked before. Vergil turned to him and leaned on the wall, his hands over his chest.

"I did nothing, she did all the work." He mumbled feeling awkward again ignoring that Dante was making his way toward him furiously looking at him top to bottom.

"YOU SCREWED Arith!" Dante shouted furiously bringing his gun to Vergil's forehead. Poor Vergil was caught off guard and pulled Dante towards him giving him a good punch for him to shut up.

"Are you insane? Screaming that out loud, if they heard you.."

"So you did?"

"No you imbecile!" Vergil punched him once more and let him fall to the ground starring at the steps angrily. "The point is, they won't trust you for now on… you're going to have a hard time explaining."

Dante lifted himself from the ground dusting off his coat mumbling something about brothers; he turned to the stairs and sighed gently. "Why me, you're the one that opened your mouth and said to much…"

"I suppose Arith would be affected by all this but still, she's a strong girl…"

There was an awkward silence where Dante was starring at Vergil with a smirk and Vergil starring back trying to understand what was so funny. It only took a few seconds before Vergil's sword came slicing through the air at Dante's head who was ready with his own.

"You disgust me…" Vergil spoke bitterly, his cheeks going slightly red; Dante glared back at him and shook his head. "Next time you get pinned by my Arith there, keep everything in your pants."

"Funny," The two swords were lighting up gently from being pressured together, "The one who makes the rules always tends to break them."

The two separated quickly starring at each other angrily; Dante turned his attention to the noise upstairs, murmurings and sobs. Vergil looked at the ceiling and growled gently.

"Woman…"

"Yeh, tell me about it…" Dante said gently as Vergil turned to look at him. He raised his hand, his mind working once more with his malevolent deeds.

"I'll make you a deal. I'll tell them the truth, but you keep your nose out of it." Vergil spoke business like, his eyes still on the ceiling ignoring Dante's suspicious stare. He had to work quickly; this wasn't what he was expecting. The girls were growing too fast with their strengths, he knew better that the reason their old selves had resurfaced was because they had excess energy to give off, they were reliving their past lives, gaining back the powers they once lost to the earth itself. Dante knew nothing of what the true powers of the Elemental Guard were capable of but Vergil knew better. If Marie had ever decided to punish him for what he had done, she would have killed him easily. Vergil turned his attention back to Dante who was pondering the Idea around his head and finally sighed defeated.

"Alright…I'm pretty sure they'll listen to you better then they'll do to me. I don't want to hear any crying, moaning, sobbing and find anyone dead. You give them time, alright?" He said angrily before walking up the stairs making his way to Kimni's bedroom door in order to listen to their conversation. He could tell Arith was still sobbing and Kimni was murmuring something aloud.

"… And they say we are going to save the world? Please! What kind of instructors are they anyway?" Kimni stated pounding her fists together. Ayame raised her head from the pillow and sighed gently making sure Arith, who had her head on Ayame's stomach, wouldn't feel uncomfortable, "It's okay, Kimni… maybe they did mess up. They are guys."

"That isn't the point, though." Aranell stated sharply playing with a strand of Arith's hair gently trying to calm her.

"It's obvious they hide crap from us, for all we know they already knew this was going to happen to us. We can't trust them."

"And..." Arith sobbed gently turning around to face them all, especially Kimni, "they like our past self's better. What if they are waiting for our past selves to take over completely, I don't want to be Marie, to hell with that damn slut!" She stammered oncemore-hugging Ayame who laughed gently, "You'd be calling yourself a slut." She answered shyly making Arith curl up slightly and frowned.

"It ain't fair, some bitch already lived our lives and from the looks of it took my guy away…"

"Your guy Arith?" Aranell butted in smirking at her; Arith lifted herself up and sat down whipping the tears from her cheeks. "Yes… so what, I have…. Well had, a crush on Vergil but what's this? I get totally embarrassed because my old self can't wait to bang him, eww!" She said shaking her head in her misery, Kimni was looking at her amazed that Arith had said this out loud. It felt like one of those talks that girls have when one of them breaks up with someone. Aranell looked at Arith heartbroken and hugged her gently. "It's okay Arith, it doesn't matter, besides he's too old for you anyway…" She said gently smirking at the idea of Arith ever having a boyfriend. On the other hand, Ayame was looking at the two pensive, taking a deep breath before she spoke.

"Put it this way, from the looks of what Kimni's past and your past were going to do, I'd say you should be happy, you scored with two albino half demons!"

There was a long moment where Ayame was laughing by herself everyone glaring at her, especially Arith.

"Want to run that by me again, Ayame?" She said picking up a pillow menacingly, Ayame gave her a stern look and frowned shaking her head, "Just trying to help…"

Kimni sighed gently and fall back on the bed starring at the ceiling not really understanding why she had stormed off like that. She understood Dante, heck; if the love of her life came back from the dead, she too would go crazy but… Dante had crossed a very fine line when he said all that about Felicia. Just because she looked like her, acted like her for not even one hour, he should have had a bit of decency then to blurt it all out as if he owned her. It was horrible the way one saw the distinction between Vergil and Dante, at least Vergil didn't say anything…wait…

"Hey Arith, what did happen when you woke up?" She asked curiously turning to her. Arith blinked and at once her cheeks went red.

"I don't want to talk about it…"

"Oh come on, what could be worse then what happened to Kimni?"

After Ayame finished, Arith starred around her helplessly catching Aranell's eyes who was grinning gently.

"Something tells me it's much worse."

"Shut the hell up. It isn't funny! Unlike Kimni's situation where Dante was obviously on top of the relationship, it was the other way around for me…"

The three girls gasped and couldn't help but giggle gently, Arith starred at all of them angrily, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, it's just," Aranell stammered calming herself quickly, "It's just, it sounds like you would actually do that. Vergil is such a wimp letting you do all the action…"

"ARANELL!" Arith shrieked angrily throwing her a pillow and pushing her face into one of the pillows. Kimni sighed gently and patted her back, "Come on, you're going to make my pillow soggy, eww." At the mention of a pillow, Ayame looked around and caught sight of Kimni's table clock.

"Okay, now we go to sleep. I don't think those twins will tell us anything now."

"Yeh, those faggots."

" Oh Arith, yet you can't live without them."

"I'm not the one drooling over them Aranell…"

"Hey, that's not me!"

A mini quarrel erupted between Arith and Aranell ending with their faces beneath a pillow and laughter from the other girls. Kimni and Ayame had moved to let the too go at it not wanting to get hit or punched. With a laden heart, Kimni stood up and stretched starring at the door sadly. "I'm going to bed… lock your doors if you know what's good for you."

"Hey Kimni."

Arith called out as she rubbed her right cheek where Aranell had given her a punch, she starred at her a bit confused. "What will happen tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah, tomorrow… when we all see them again…"

There was a long silence here as the girls looked at each other in turn and with one last heavy sigh from them all, each left Kimni's room quietly with not another word. Once Kimni was alone she slumped back on the floor beside the bed and thought everything out. It seemed after the shock she was putting more emphasize on their past selves. It was obvious they weren't going to get anything out of the two albino idiots and it was also obvious there was more to them then they imagined that it would be pretty difficult to get everything sorted out. Kimni looked down at her book… she hadn't opened it in days yet lied to Dante she had everything down from the first chapter. She brought it beside her and flipped through the pages scanning here and there as if the answers to un answered questions looming in her head would just pop out of no where and slap her on the face. It was on page 4,350 that she saw it.

Dante… 

It was written in small cursive yet something about it stood out. As Kimni inspected the page, she realized all the passage was written in a hurried writing yet every time Dante's name appeared the writer took their time to make every curve and length equal. _Okay…_ thought Kimni as she moved in order to close it but stopped as she caught another known name.

Marie was quite worried… 

"Marie?" she said out loud unintentionally now skimming again through the page… they were all there! It seemed the person that was writing knew the guard…. Kimni's eyes finally fell to the bottom of the page where there was barely enough space left where in perfect handwriting was Felicia's signature. At once, Kimni's stomach squirmed uneasily and her fingers twitched from the weight of the book. Bringing her glasses a bit higher on the bridge of her nose, she began to read.

_Dante..._

_We met him a week ago and he's back, much to Katherine's dislike. It seems she still hasn't forgotten the trouble Dante and his brother put us through. I, for once, am quite relieved he ended up here, I was afraid his brother might have killed him. He arrived around midnight on May 17 all bloody and worn out. The first one to see him in was Marie and the poor girl didn't know how to help him. She summoned for me with one of the pages from the village that always stay for our aid and we discovered that the two brothers were having quite a discussion based on family affairs. The discussion led to a fight till death- obviously Dante lost. I had never seen such a man as him. _

_Marie and I healed his wounds, got him fresh and ready and were planning to make him leave before sunrise in order to keep Katherine from knowing… but as stubborn as we were, we discovered men were even more stubborn. He refused to go saying he was in pain, he wanted to 'lie in my deathbed surrounded by two beautiful celestial beings." Poor Marie, she refrained from hurting him by tightening his bandages instead but I fell for his charm. I a foolish girl, as Katherine would have said. Morning came and so did Katherine, in all her rage. There was a horrible argument between Dante and Katherine in his chamber and only resulted in her rage reaching a climatic stage. She told us something horrible._

_Dante, Dante Sparda, the son of the Legendary Knight Sparda was a half-breed but most importantly….a demon. Demon are said to be cold and cruel… but not Dante. He is nice, gentle, caring, and a bit of a romanticist but in summary, everything a Demon isn't. I fear to think of the consequences of befriending our enemy but I can't help it. He's stayed here for almost a week and under Katherine's rules, he wasn't aloud to talk with anyone. Emilia was in charge of bringing the food to him in his chamber but I swear to you, I heard them talking. I've spotted Marie walking by the door a few times and once, Dante came out and stopped her on her tracks asking for water. She just took his cup without a word and left… then he saw me. He seemed sad, and to him, I seemed sad. He smiled to me and I smiled back. What else could I do, for heavens sakes! It was disgraceful. He was playing with us all yet his face, his eyes looked so sincere and pleading as if he didn't want to be ignored, he needed help. Katherine said Demons did that in order to eat their prey. _

_The surprise came around midnight once more on May 23. I was asleep and had no clue that Marie was sitting safely beside me. I recall hearing a faint whisper until I finally arose. She was crying, it seemed Dante was falling ill again and it wasn't from health problems. We went to him together and sure enough, he looked paler then usual and did seem on the brim to death. At the sight of us, he looked up and smiled. Marie quickly fell beside him and held his hand in his. I remember her very words; they burned into my mind that day. _

"_Are you all right my dear brother? What is it? I brought her, just as you wanted." _

_Dante wanted to see me. I can't exactly recall what I was thinking at the moment only that I was horrified at the fact Marie had called Dante her brother. Dante, in response to Marie's kindness, sat up gently his chest was bare and all the bandages around him seemed to be spotless, he wasn't bleeding to death. With a great amount of stress, he beckoned to me, and I as if I were a child being scolded, walked to him and kneeled beside him. He smiled at me in that usual grin I always saw he placed for me. He spoke and I remember every single word. _

"_You two have been kind. If it weren't for Maire, I would have died out there and if it wasn't for you, I would have died in here. It's my brother… it hurts-" At this, he indicated to his heart. Obviously, the poor man was suffering of depression. Marie was about to lay him down but he motioned for her to leave him. He turned to me and smiled once more. "So before I leave you all, and no, I'm not going to die, I need to know your name."_

_My name. That's all he wanted. I told him of course and he said it. It sounded so beautiful the way he pronounced it, by each syllable. I sat there transfixed and captivated like a child and then…. he was gone. _

_Two days later, he left a letter on my window saying he was coming to visit his 'sister' and me. Marie is so excited yet doesn't show it because we know Katherine wouldn't like it. I on the other hand am slightly afraid. What if something happens? I don't know what to do. I don't even know what the 'what' is or why I'm worrying… I just feel it in my stomach, like butterflies. I'll ask Emilia tomorrow, she always knows what we are suffering about. _

_Felicia _

It took a few minutes and another complete read for Kimni to absorb everything. This didn't explain anything! Crazy Felicia doesn't know she's in love when she is but that's all, Kimni started changing pages but thought better of it, it was all ready really late and she'd be falling asleep in class. With one last disappointed sigh she tossed the book to the floor and went to sleep turning off the lamp. She'd read more in the morning, after all, a little romance novel would be great for black mail.

"Pass the ketchup or what?"

"Here ya' go."

Yep, that was pretty much the only thing said in the breakfast table next morning. The girls were all dressed and cranky from the lack of sleep and upcoming school; Dante hadn't showed up and from Arith's inspection, he wasn't in the house. The girls ate breakfast as fast as they could and left right after. It was on their way to school that the silence broke.

"You think Dante killed himself?" Arith said shyly shifting her backpack on her shoulders. Ayame and Kimni exchanged glances and Aranell laughed sarcastically.

"Why would he kill himself?"

"Because he's emo."

"I'm pretty sure he's smarter then that, Arith."

"I wouldn't be so sure…" Kimni interrupted as Dante appeared around the corner walking to them in a nervous yet cheerful tone. The girls stopped dead in their track and starred at him blankly, he answered by smiling his usual grin.

"So babes, you're going to school?"

"Yes…" They all answered on the same time which made Dante even more nervous. He scratched the back of his neck and sighed speaking a bit low as if what he said was actually hard to do.

"I wanted to apologize right. It's just….I got carried away and…"

"It's okay Dante. We forgave you." Kimni butted in not lifting her gaze from her hands yet she knew Dante had been starring at her.

"Are…Are you sure? I mean, I can make it up to you all, if you let me."

"Listen Dante…just don't do it again. I was thinking…" Arith said nervously, swinging her bag now. Aranell nodded, "Yeah, I think we all were thinking." There was a short silence where they all stood there looking at each other. The sound of the city was the only thing around them until Ayame sighed and clapped her hands.

"How about this Dante. You take us out to some fancy restaurant and explain everything to us. All right? I'm sure there's an explanation of you're affection to Felicia. It said in my book…"

"Yeah in mine too…"

"Wait, what you people talking about!" Arith butted in starring at Ayame and Aranell. "What do you mean your books say?"

"Haven't you been reading it?" Aranell replied adding a sly grin of mock. Arith looked a bit surprised and stuttered before finally saying no.

Kimni smiled gently happy that she had read last night and not been the idiot like Arith, "There's like Diary entries of past Guardians in there… our old selves come out."

"Man, and why am I not told about this!"

"I did tell you all to read…" Dante grunted angrily starring at Arith. Arith glared back and walked up to him slamming her backpack into his arms. "Well sorry mister "take them while they're young'! I had homework to do so I couldn't read."

"You fell asleep last night, I saw you." Dante grinned putting Arith's backpack over his shoulder ignoring the horrified look on Arith's face. She stuttered once more and starred up at him giving Kimni the impression of the 'brother- sister' thing between Marie and Dante.

"You were watching me?"

"I was guarding you. I knew Vergil would try to give you his 'apologies'…"

"YOU WERE IN MY ROOM, WHEN I WAS SLEEPING?"

"Your awesome in bed babe…" He said casually turning on his heel and leading the way to school not realizing what he said was actually disgusting.

"WHAT?" All the girls shouted in rage, Arith was whimpering again hugging herself in fear. Dante stopped and turned to them realizing what he just said and laughed. "Not like that! I mean, she…she looks good in bed? You know? err, her position? … the way she sleeps…. SHE SLEEPS LIKE A VAMPIRE! I swear!"

The girls began moving again passing by Dante. He braced himself for them to hit him but they didn't, Aranell just mumbled something and Ayame called out without turning, "Just shut-up Dante. We all ready forgave you, don't ruin it for yourself."

"You're right…" Dante sighed scratching his head. Arith appeared beside him and punched him in the stomach before holding onto his arm hurrying him up down the street to catch up with the others.

"No time for slowness white boy, no time for slowness!"


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17 

"Word to your mother!" Arith was shouting out at some students passing by at the college. It was a B-day again and she had been let out of class early… there was nothing much to do here…

The poor girl had been sitting there for 30 minutes straight and the courtyard was emptying out. Students were either leaving or getting to their classes. After a few minutes of sitting on the lone bench, a familiar voice called from behind her.

"Babe, what is crackin' lika'-"

"Word to your…. Dante!"

Dante hopped onto the bench besides her wearing a shirt today, it was chilly now, and winter had finally begun to show herself. He felt her bare hand and looked at her worried. "You're freezing babe, I thought you were in class?" He scooted right up beside her and Arith didn't stop from taking advantage. He held onto his arm for warmth and shivered. "I swear, isn't it cold for you? You are from hell." She said nervously. Dante turned to her and shook his head. "Babe, I'm hot by nature. That should be the only thing you need to know."

Arith starred at him cautiously. "Pervert…" The two laughed and whispered among themselves, Dante making weird comments, Arith backing them up, until the other girls came out of the metal doors which creaked loud enough to disrupt Arith and Dante. Arith waved and forced Dante to get up and carry her bag, he did. The other girls hobbled over to their side trying to cover themselves the best they could from the breeze.

"Some weather. The professor didn't want to turn on the heater because it would ' interrupt our learning experience'…. The idiot." Aranell stammered zipping up her jacket a bit more. Ayame was fixing her scarf and Kimni putting on her jacket. She laughed slightly. "Oh, it was hot in my class, the heater was practically on fire… I was sitting right next to it…"

It was true she was actually sweating. Ayame offered her scarf but Kimni refused it and started walking. "So, where to tonight, Dante?" She offered eyeing him quickly. He was still holding onto Arith as they walked. He looked at her the moment she looked at him and smiled gently, his old self-coming back from the 3 nights ago.

"Wherever you babes want. Use me, I'm yours."

All the girls pretended to puke, Arith pinched him who made him laugh and Kimni blushed.

The past couple of nights, it was taking longer then expected for Dante to tell the story. He started off with the story of his father and mother and of his and Vergil's, the next night was about the story and history of the elemental guard and tonight, it was about them. So all these nights, it was restaurants.

"How about that fancy pants Italian place, eh? They make kick ass pizza." He offered raising Arith's hand at once.

"She wants to go!"

"Heck yes…wait…. where?"

"Fine with me."

"Me too."

"Wait, where are we going?"

"Poor Arith…"

They all marched off home where they'd lave their crap and drive a mile or so to get to the fancy pants Italian restaurant called "Tomas's Comida Italiana"… I told you it was fancy pants.

And hour later, they were at Tomas's and Dante had all ready began the story.

"So, remember that I told you that the very first Guardians were shunned and hated? Well, you people were the opposite. You gained knowledge of the elemental guard in a young stage so people adapted. You're old selves were all from Spain I think…I don't remember. The point was, the main hideout of you all was in Spain, near the Vatican."

"We worked for the Church?" Arith said, lifting her head from her arms on the table looking sideways at him, a stray dangling lazily from her lips. Dante shook his head gently and continued. "No. You people lived near the Vatican for information purposes."

"So we don't have a religion?"

"We are a religion, aren't we?"

"No you fools, I'm a Catholic-"

"No, you did have your religion!" Dante interrupted. "But that isn't the point. The point was, they didn't accept you yet you needed information they had. That's where you people had subordinates and spies…like a true organization." Dante spoke. He was afraid they'd get into their analytical discussions and end up making all these hard questions for him to answer. Then he wouldn't answer and they'd get mad… like animals, Dante thought.

"Anyway, you people started when you were kids. Remember I told you there are more guardians of different elements? Well, you four become powerful because of one thing…Unity. Earth, Air Fire and Water weren't always the strongest elements there were. At times you had others as masters but because of you, you made things go back like they use to. The first guardians were the four of your powers."

The waitress appeared with the drinks after waiting 15 minutes but no one gave her any attention, they were all looking at Dante intently, not wanting to miss anything he said. Dante was looking at each in turn, not even when the waitress turned to eye him, Which Kimni noticed with daggers in her eyes, didn't turn.

As they all started on their drink Dante went on talking, starring at Arith for she was playing with her coke.

"You babes grew up into beautiful babes man, it's at birth, or your mothers, who knows. Point was, you all were discovered because of accidents. Arith, for example, caught her house on fire at the age of six because her nanny didn't give her chocolate!"

All the girls laughed except for Arith, she was starring at Dante horrorstruck. "I didn't kill anyone, did I?" She said nervously. Dante patted her shoulder and laughed almost like a father would when a daughter was complaining of ghosts. "You didn't kill anyone. Heck, you almost died yourself… mini shock, you know?"

The other girls looked at Arith and starred gently at her visible emotions, it seemed she was paying a lot of importance on the subject. Dante went on after twirling his straw in his Dr. Pepper. For a brief moment he was quiet and he began.

"She was found by a very clever 8 year old by the name of Katherine. There was this joke later in the Elemental Guard where they called her 'Katherine the Great'. She shunned that for some reason…"

Ayame snorted gently and frowned at Dante's ignorance, "Katherine the Great was a whore sometimes. I'm pretty sure Katherine wasn't one."

"Yeah right…" The others said mocking the red face Ayame had now, she mumbled something and beckoned him to keep talking. "Anyway, this girl, Katherine, was a child with power. She had been shunned from her city; she was the daughter of the governor of some fancy pants city in Switzerland. When she got herself shunned, she fled to Rome to try to find assistance from the Vatican, she considered herself possessed. To the Pope, she was. After a while, I'm guessing she gave up on them and went her own way, the original Elemental Guard soon discovered her power."

Aranell was tapping the table gently, which caught Dante's attention, he grinned. "Two days after Katherine saved Marie, she met another hopeless. This girl had grown in the wild. Felicia, being 6 at the time when Katherine caught her had escaped from her home where she lived with her uncles. Why? Because she found herself to be different, because she knew what she could do and because she wanted to hide it. Heck, she went emo and a forest grew… pretty scary. The last yet not least was Emilia. Now she has a story. Her family consisted of gypsies. They were mainly merchants traveling here and there giving shows, selling silk exported from other countries but the thing they were known for the most was their dances."

His eyes glazed a bit remembering the good old days where he had once seen such performances. Aranell was smiling happily, "Did you ever see the dances?"

"Did I?" Dante mocked proudly sitting up straight in excitement. "Emilia had a nice little combo effect she used in battle. Whenever she was fighting against some enemy she didn't want to touch, she made this 'dance of the dead man'… the most craziest and grotesque ending thus far." He finished slamming his hands on the table making all the girls jump, Aranell grinned again proudly, "yep, that's me."

"Keep going, what happened next?"

"Well, you all moved on together. There is only one reason why you all became so powerful compared to the apprentices of all the other guardians: you worked together. It had never been done that Fire unites with earth or Fire with wind, it was crazy talk, babes! And you all invented it!"

The four girls looked at each other cheerfully and embarrassed at the praise Dante was giving them, Kimni spoke shyly in curiosity. "What kind of powers did we make?"

"Ah man!" Dante said, shuffling in his seat concentrating in his memory, " You and Marie did this crazy lava thing once because you all were to lazy to fight, Emilia and Katherine would conjure up whirlpools out of thin air, awesome thunderstorm too… then Arith's and Emilia's whole little blinding act where ashes would fill the whole place and Emilia would make it seem like a sandstorm, it was awesome."

A few minutes passed as Dante began explaining critical combos and their awesome comebacks as the waitress reappeared with their plates and food yet no one paid attention to her. Dante was now exaggerating how their clothes fit the whole personage of super heroes.

"-And like all this flowers around her and shit that Marie had made into shield barriers and man, the whole thing was a turn on…. I swear, you can't blame me."

There were a few murmurs of disagreement and they began to eat. The rest of the night ended in the talk of their old school friends and happenings, their family and even some friends. What they hadn't noticed until they finally sat there satisfied of the dinner and the evening was that they were talking of the past easily, they hadn't forgotten it and still stayed true to their memories… maybe their old self's forgot to do that. An hour had passed and they were all finished with their plates, only their coke glasses remained to keep them company.

"So what happened to them? How did we die?" Ayame asked nervously, she was trying to combine to straws into one; a very difficult task. Dante gave her a quick glance but turned around as if he hadn't heard a thing, to his great discontent, he couldn't fool the girls. Arith who was the closest gave him the evil eye which Dante tried to ignore, Kimni followed suite and so did Aranell, the poor white boy was turning red. With one last stern look, Aranell finally spoke out with a bite, obviously he was keeping it secret for a reason.

"Well, how did we die?"

Dante looked at them all, his blue eyes starring at them pleadingly. After a few minutes of no mercy, he began to talk, his blue eyes starring at the red tablecloth all the while.

" It was on the eve of autumn, there were always the parties and the dances to cause havoc at. That was the first kill. Aranell fell… then I did-"

"They killed you!" Arith gasped in horror, even the girls were taken aback. Aranell was pretty much ticked off she had been killed first while Ayame and Kimni were taken aback by the fact that Dante had been killed. Dante turned to Arith nervously, something paining his him from the inside and he nodded. Arith shook her head in disbelief.

"But… you're Dante…"

"The son of Sparda…"

"A demon."

"No one can kill you"

"A demon."

The girls all turned to Ayame who had been chanting 'demon' through out the whole conversation, she just sighed realizing it wasn't the time. Dante shuffled himself on the chair and sighed heavily fingering the rim of his glass.

"Yeah. I was killed…"

"Did you see who it was?" Kimni as timidly and Dante responded in fury:

"Vergil."

There could be no doubt about that, the fools did hate each other so Vergil killing Dante wasn't such a big news, yet that he was alive-

Arith scooted closer beside him inspecting him closely as if he were some experiment.

"So, how can you still be alive?" She said gently poking him with her spoon, Dante looked at his arm where she was busy prodding and smiled weakly. "Just like you people… in a sense."

"In a sense?" Kimni retorted shaking her head to the comment, Dante shrugged hating the fact they were getting smarter then he was.

"Okay, so I wasn't born from random humans, I was born in some random pit of hell, happy now?" He mumbled angrily, the girls looked away. Arith broke the silence by giving Dante a hard prod with the spoon. He came back into existence and at once continued the story.

"From me, Felicia died and, then Katherine and lastly, Marie."

"Hey wait a second," Aranell interrupted a bit upset, "why does Arith die last?"

Arith quickly sat up proudly looking at her lopsided reflection on the spoon as if she was some beauty contest winner Aranell frowned. "Because I'm cool like that and no body, I say, nobody kicks more ass then I do, shit…" She leaned back in her chair proudly while Dante was eyeing her from the corner of her eyes a bit sadly, Kimni spotted this at once and so did Ayame but they said nothing as Dante regained his posture.

"Yeah, Marie died last and that's that. Now we go home." He said briskly trying to end everything at once by standing up and waiting for them, they all blinked in shock and mumbled their discontent as they got up to leave. Arith was still sitting down as Dante poked her to move it. In no time they were outside at the busy streets, the sky painted a orange and purple signaling the sun was setting. The group stayed there for a while looking up at the sky ignoring the walls and walls of skyscrapers around them. It was hard to think that these people were going to save the world. Dante finally brought himself out of the trance and looked at the girls.

"Shall we?"

The girls followed, pulling their sweaters closer to them, it tended to get colder with the absence of the sun. Dante grinned gently as Arith took her place beside him hugging his arm for warmth as they walked.

"The good old queen of winter has done it again…."

The trio had been sitting on the roof of a building spying on the gang. They had given up trying to steal their books they just wanted facts. For what seems days the four girls have been everything of importance. The only time they didn't spy on them was when they went home, there was Dante whom they didn't want to mess with…yet. They had plans for the little albino twins…

Future had his foot on the side rail of the building looking down at the spot where the group was moving, Dante's red cloak made it easy for them to spot him. It was freezing up there, his eyes kept turning to the sunset and then at Past who was sitting a few feet away shivering like crazy. Present was inspecting his hands; according to him he was a palm reader. Future found himself thinking why he had to work with idiots.

"They're out…" was all he said to bring the other two to the edge of the building and look down. Sure enough, the little red dot was moving followed closely by four little dots. Past began to tremble with excitement looking from Future to present and vice versa, waiting to be told to kill someone. Sadly, the command never came. Future was intently looking at the dots crossing down the street in silent meditation. What could he do, all these weeks of stalking felt like a waste of time? From what they had overheard from school was that they were finally being told the truth, this was something the Trio wanted to know as well.

What ever did happen to the great elemental guard and was the worlds fall caused by them? If it was, was life even worth killing them? Yeah, well, being nice and sympathetic might not be that appropriate way to think of things if you want to take over the world but honestly, what were they going to control if their deaths caused the downfall of everyone? Future was still in thought as Past gave him a strong nudge in the direction of the street.

"Hey boss, aren't you…you know, going to get them this time?" he said nervously. It seemed every time they asked him something, he always backslashes at them in a pist off mood, this whole stalking business was making it worse. Future quickly snapped back into life turning quickly towards Past making him fall backwards in fear, Present just blinked at the commotion like an idiot.

"Yes, damnit. I know. But, I can't do it now, we still don't have enough information on-"

"For heaven sakes man," Past cursed angrily kicking himself back to his feet. He had lost his patience with Future's little outburst. "All we have to know is they are our enemies and we have to erase them from the face of the universe. That's all! Why do you make it all complicated and shit!"

Future looked away, he had a point. The lives of thousands hadn't been important until about a month ago when he saw Aranell, but what could he say, some messed up chic wasn't going to change his plans, not by a long shot. Present was inching closer to them, his orange hair swaying gently with the chilly breeze. He never really liked the fighting and he didn't always understand the plot. Here, in his opinion Past was right. They were enemies, they would have killed them last time if they weren't such cowards but he learned his lesson; don't mess with the Elemental Guard.

"Cool off you two, we aren't against each other."

"No…he's right…" Future said a bit bothered as he turned to look back at the dots moving, they were quickly getting out of view down the street. Sooner or later they would disappear around main street corner and head to a straight line for a few miles towards home. He gave up.

"Let's go home, it's useless like this. Besides, we have a while until we're ready for the main event." His grin returned once more as his plotting ways began. Past cooled down gently sensing Future was cooling down too, he gave present a look of thanks. Future lifted his face to the sky and sighed heavily, "We need to get our things in order first. Then, all hell breaks loose for the girls."

"YEAH!" Both past and present jumped up in excitement screaming at the top of their lungs at the street.

"Did you heart that bitches! NO MERCY FOR YOU!"

"HECK YES! BITCHES ARE GOING DOWN!"

As the two idiots screamed their lungs off Future frowned letting them do as they wished, he was still perturbed by the whole Aranell thing that he didn't realize a figure walking to them slowly.

"YEAH, YOU BETTER KEEP WALKING YOU SONS OF-"

"That is no way to talk to a lady, now is it?"

The trio turned rapidly to see whom it was, obviously, it was Vergil. They starred at him rather shocked; they hadn't seen him in a while. At once, Past took this opportunity to use his built up superiority to tell Vergil off.

"Hey, fool, I haven't seen you in a while. Who have you been stalking?"

Vergil gave him a piercing glance and frowned, stopping a few feet away. "Unlike you, insignificant fools, I don't need stalking to get what I want." Present was frowning at the comeback he made and spoke ruthlessly. "What do you do, kiss their ass?"

"No…" Vergil said gently popping his sword out from the sheath already irritated. "I ask 'kindly."

At once, Future stepped forward angrily confused at Vergil's actions, he looked around at his comrades and spoke businesslike. "What do you want, information?"

"What else could you three give me." Vergil said a bit irritated at the stupid questions. He walked forward gently to where they had been standing at the edge of the building top, his eyes perusing the street below. He could see the spots clearly getting nearer to their turn. He saw Arith clearly clutching onto Dante… why the-

"Listen here, son of Sparda. You disappear for a while and appear demanding information? Who do you think you are?" Future asked coldly stepping forward, his red hair and eyes glowing gently. Vergil paid no attention to him and merely took him as back ground noise. He tore his eyes away from the girls once they were safely out of view. He turned swiftly to Future and blinked looking out into the horizon.

"I'm not a fool, Michael, and I know you aren't one either." He said gently. Before Future or Past could respond to this, he continued hushing them.

"I am a man of common sense and logic. I know your plans, you wish to stop time and destroy everything in your wake. But, something bothering you." At this, he took out his sword from his sheath and inspected it, making it shine with the rays of the setting sun. Future looked at him trying not to give away his amazement, especially not to an enemy. Past and Present were looking awkwardly at the back of Future's head in confusement as Vergil started once more.

"I consider you a smart boy for realizing that the fall of the Elemental Guard meant something in the-"

"I'm not a boy…" Future spat angrily taking a step forward in his defense. "You weren't the only one who came back, remember that. Just because we don't remember our past doesn't mean we don't have knowledge that we once existed many years ago."

"Yeah," Past said taking his place beside Future as he spoke, "we'll find out sooner or later, occasionally."

"But what if you're to late?" Vergil said gently eying the streets again signaling that they were the key to everything. Future frowned and thought about this for a few minutes.

The white boy was right, they were the key in the end. But if Vergil knew everything why was he here?

"So what are you looking for?" Future called out once more in a businesslike state, his arms crossed in front of him. Vergil looked at him and put his sword back in his sheath quickly and skillfully. "I want to know what they've been doing lately."

Present snorted with laughter and Past shook his head in shame catching Vergil off guard. "What's so funny?" He asked with spite.

"The all powerful and intellectual Vergil Sparda can't stalk people correctly? Man, for all we know Dante might be giving you off to those girls."

"What?"

"Yeah, we can't hear anything they say because we don't dare go into the restaurants they go to but they've been getting-"

"Reeducated…" Future ended the sentence looking once more at the street realizing they were gone. Meanwhile, Vergil had been given a terrible blow. What the hell was Dante doing talking to the girls about their past, this wasn't how he had planned it! He turned swiftly to see the Trio realizing he had left himself unguarded but they were walking away. Before they disappeared into the door, Future turned and looked at Vergil a bit nervously.

"Hey, Vergil. For old times sakes… who did kill us…. Vergil?"

The terrace was empty and quiet. Either Vergil had dissolved in mid air or he jumped off the roof either way, Future was left hanging with the cold wind to surround him. He turned one last time towards the now completely settled sun and sighed. Sadly, he had a feeling this was going to be harder then he thought.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18 

It was bright an early on a Saturday morning that it was a surprise to see sunlight through the windows. Ayame and Kimni were in the kitchen making their breakfast as they waited for Aranell, Arith was watching T.V and commentating what was happening in the commercial. The girls in the kitchen weren't really paying attention, Kimni wasn't a 'morning person' and Ayame was concentrating in breaking eggs.

"Ah man, that was freakin' hilarious. And check out that shit… how can someone build something like that?" She leaned back in the sofa satisfied with herself as if she had made a wonderful discovery that would change mankind. Aranell came bustling fixing her skirt angrily.

"Damn, why do we still have to wear these skirts?" She said annoyed. Kimni exhaled sternly and mumbled something about, "look who's talking". Ayame smirked and gave Kimni's skirt a sad smile; Kimni turned to her and frowned. "You got the extra skirt with you?"

"Yep." Ayame announced proudly pointing at the bulgy backpack on the first step of the stairs. A boot appeared beside it and Dante was standing there sniffing the air pretending to sleep walk beside Ayame. He stared at the eggs in the pan and smirked clapping his hands together. "Hell's yeah! You made me breakfast!" He was about to reach for a plate but Ayame dived to slap his hand away, he groaned hurt.

"That's ours, Dante." She said plainly and truthfully, pushing him aside so she could continue cooking. Kimni and Aranell were starring at Dante's hurt face as he scowled at their rude behavior. Arith entered the kitchen and grinned patting Dante on his shoulder.

"It's okay, I'll give you some of mine, okays!"

Dante looked at her suspiciously as he took a seat at the table, he was wearing a nice shirt and red pants… some occasion? He looked around the kitchen talking without looking at Arith.

"I thought you didn't like eggs?"

"That's why I'm giving them to you idiot!" She laughed thinking it was common sense by now, and thus; Dante ate her eggs while she only got some retarded looking sausage she found in the fridge, pretty satisfying in her opinion. The girls ate fast and at once started getting their bags to go to school. The moment they opened the door though, the cold breeze came in and froze the girls in place trying to cover their legs.

"Shit, that's fucking cold!"

"Look at my damn skirt, you shouldn't be saying anything!"

"Damnit Kimni, stop being emo, or what!"

"Hey babes!" Dante called out through a mouthful of eggs as he stood up to walk to them in the main hall. He stepped forward towards tem and stood at the door seeing how cold it was, Arith starred at him angrily tutting her tongue a his direction.

"Look fool, we know you're a demon and the weather doesn't affect you so don't bust out your crap that it isn't cold." Dante eyed her through the corner of his eye and shut the door gently.

"Actually misses 'I'm a girl and can't produce enough body heat', I was going to ask if you would all prefer to wear coats instead of sweaters, like that one." He pointed to his red trench lazily and scratched his head. "I'm pretty sure I got some in my closet somewhere."

Aranell was eyeing the cloak sadly, one of those in black would look awesome but- "Dante, we don't have time to go rummaging through the abyss of your closet."

"Well, actually," Ayame butted in checking her watch, "School starts in 25 minutes, we might be able to make it."

"You mean to say we're going to wear Dante Sparda's clothes!" Arith shouted excitedly holding onto Kimni's arm in exasperation, Kimni was wincing in pain at her grasp. She turned quickly and poked her hard in the ribs making her cower backwards. "Damnit you silly fan girl, control yourself, he's right there!"

Arith turned to Dante who was looking at her as if trying not to laugh; it was nice to have a fan. Without another word he started walking upstairs taking his own coat and throwing it at Arith out of humor, it fell over her head making her shriek.

"Move your tussie, I'll find one for all of you but colors are limited."

It struck the girls odd that he was being nice, the girls looked at each other slightly grateful he was actually going to give them a form of protection from the cold, and better yet, they'd look kick ass in the process. Behind Kimni, Arith still hadn't removed the coat from her head and was giggling non- stop. She turned around to see what was the big commotion and caught a good whiff of it before she could even ask the question.

"Oh my- "

"Old Spice, man, mine better smell like this too, Yo!" Arith whispered as she threw the coat at Kimni, who simply caught it and rolled her eyes, it was intoxicating.

So, Dante's closet was pretty much a big surprise to see, it held true to the whole eerie feel that his whole room was giving by being showered in complete darkness. Dante had to turn on the light of the closet in order to see, but it didn't make much of a difference, the cloaks and boxes overhead were making it really hard to see yet Dante was rummaging through the clothes as if this wasn't a problem.

"Alright, got on here…"

"Is it red and velvety and smells of old spice?"

There was a small silence where even Dante stopped his rummaging and turned to Arith a bit confused. "No…. but this one does." He threw another one at her from the closet, which she caught and inspected quickly; Ayame had gotten the other one he had thrown. Both cloaks were pretty much plain, but it added that rocker/ Goth tone to their school girl outfits, Arith was impressed for she was now looking at her reflection at the mirror.

"This looks tight…" She kept mouthing at the mirror, Aranell was looking at her shaking her head as Dante threw her one.

"Hey, what the-"

"Considering you're super short, that one there might suite you the best, it's the smallest one I got." Dante said, his whole body practically hidden through the clothes, Aranell frowned and cursed under her voice grumbling her thanks as she went beside Arith at the mirror fixing her up. Kimni was the last to stand there peering over Dante's shoulder until he finally came out holding a decent looking coat, it looked pretty new.

"This ones for you. I only wore it once because I accidentally tore the gun holster, I took it to the Tailor and he put this damned thing on it."

He turned it around and it was a small patch with a flower engraved on it with vines encircling some messed up zodiac symbol; the whole cloak was black except for the green flower on the back. Kimni laughed trying to imagine Dante wearing the thing. With a small sigh, Dante bit his lower lip examining it.

"I told the tailor to change it into a bio hazard sign at least but he was charging me extra, said he thought I was some messed up woman! I showed him afterwards…" With that said, Kimni nodded her thanks and put it on seeing how good it fit, it was a bit long but warm and that's what counts. Dante grinned happily looking at each girl in turn and then at the watch. "You babes better get going, you got less then ten minutes for class."

"Holy shit, that's true!"

"Ah man, and don't we have that tuty- fruity teacher?"

"Yes-"

"Then move your ass, I don't want detention with him, alone in his room…"

The girls started jogging downstairs with Dante following behind them now writing something down in a notebook. The girls all turned to Dante and grinned.

"How do we look?" Ayame said posing in a super hero stance, the other girls followed except for Aranell who looked at them with pitiful eyes, Dante grinned and saluted them, "You all look like a pack of super hero's."

Arith pointed at him proudly shaking her index finger sarcastically, "No sir, we are the Elemental Guard, represent!"

"Yeah, yeah, lets go, we're going to be late." Kimni butted in taking her back pack and walking to the door, Aranell and the others followed, Arith made sure to give Dante their special handshake and they all ventured off into the cold, now semi protected with the coats. Dante stood at the door way watching them run off, Arith was the only one wearing a red trench coat, it looked good on her, still, Kimni was looking like some Texas chopper with that darned coat. Once they were out of sight he walked back into the agency and paused in thought. He felt like some messed up father, it was scary. He turned to the notebook where he had been writing down a few 'numbers' and took his own cloak, which Arith had left on the stairway rail.

"Now to get them decent clothes…"

He walked out the door into the morning chilly air and started on his way to the tailors still smirking at the idea of permanent Old Spice for Arith.

It was fourth period all ready and the girls had gym, why they had been enrolled into gym was still a mystery yet no matter how much the girl's whined, Kimni always brought common sense into the picture.

"I…. can't…. run…. any…" Arith was saying looking behind her at the file of girls trying to catch up, Aranell was running beside her looking as if she was about to collapse, Kimni was the same as Arith, still running yet with pure numbness around them. Ayame had disappeared for a while but came backhand gesturing she had to drink water.

"We…. Can ….do this…. guys…. just keep…. Running…" Kimni said gently trying to motivate everyone, Arith's cough from behind made her feels worse.

"It's too…. Fucking…. Cold…. I'm dying…" Arith added after pretty much coughing out her lungs. No one said anything after that; they kept at their steady run. It seemed the coaches thought that with this 'fresh weather' running would be much easier so now they had to run 3 miles as a test score… sounds a lot like med high, doesn't it?

They had already ran 1 mile and a quarter and they were all ready tired, everyone had started in a fast sprint so that explained why the other girls were dying behind them. Arith had laughed at every single one of them. Aranell, who had been taking time became quiet for a long time, she kept closing her eyes and swaying as if she was going to puke but Arith kept telling her to open her eyes. They made a pretty good team in the end.

They had been running for more then 20 minutes now when Ayame called out from behind them, "we've…run…. Two miles." And that was that. The girls became quiet again. Arith had been determined to keep the gap between them and some girl she claimed had given her the 'evil eye' distant, but at the moment, Arith kept turning seeing the red head was getting closer.

"Shit, that bitch is trying to catch up…" Arith called out speeding up her pace; it looked hilarious considering she was running like if she had broken a leg or something. "Come on, chicks, double time STAT!"

"Are you insane!" The other three girls called out, Arith had started running ahead of them, she looked like crap, really. It was amazing how people could die when their pride and honor was at stake, it was quite a messed up story on how Arith gained an arch enemy, it all started during English.

There's this girl, there's always this girl that thinks she's the smartest of the lot when, in the end, she's the most ignorant person one can come across. Of all the things in the world that Arith could hate, that girl fell in the top three. She was a poser, had her click of girls and was ignorant. It was 3rd period English when the hatred happened. They were all reading a book aloud by turns and a few girls had problems dealing with the big words which the teacher called "Comprehensive study words"…. Whatever that means. The lesson was that a girl had to read and then she could pass it on to another student. No body wanted to read so you can imagine how dull and slow the progress was going. The first one to be called upon by someone had been Kimni, and damn, that girl could read fast and good. Things started to pace up but in the corner of the room, anger and hatred was brewing from the once top student of the class. Her name is Valerie and damn was she evil.

After about 15 minutes of non-stop reading and three 15 paged chapters, Kimni chose Arith to read. She read pretty good and advanced up four chapters, just to stick it at Kimni. Valerie was outraged. Arith was looking around the room proudly to see who looked slightly decent enough to know how to read and she saw Valerie… that was the firs time Arith had been stared at so coldly, heck, she even shuddered after a while of starring and finally picked her out of curiosity and yeah…. Valerie doesn't know shit… sad to think she was the 'top student'. After class, she had gone up to Arith in a quite strange way… Let's just say, Valerie has issues.

"So, nice reading in class. I'm quite impressed of both of you. It seems Texas does indeed have a few exempt students that actually learned something." Valerie was speaking leaning on the door to the cafeteria. By the looks of it, she was waiting for the two girls. Kimni looked at her a bit annoyed considering she was looking at them like a complete lesbian, Arith was wincing gently trying to keep herself from laughing; obviously Valerie noticed. She stepped toward them with her rich little American eagle schoolgirl outfit and her stupid rain boots…. Which was odd cause they were rubber and it was cold outside.

" I don't think you've noticed that in this school, there's a few guidelines to-"

"Chick," Arith interrupted, closing her eyes in irritation with a grin. "Shut the fuck up."

Kimni smirked at this and at once, Valerie took her defensive attitude starring at Arith evilly, lifting her finger to point at her as if casting some spell.

"What did you just tell me, idiot?"

"I told you to shut the fuck up. Your bitching is getting really annoying, red head." She turned to Kimni and beckoned her to follow her into the cafeteria but Valerie grabbed her by the shoulder, Kimni backed off freaked out at this. Arith turned her head gently to look at Valerie moving her sight from her clasped shoulder to her face and laughed.

"Let go of me and I promise not to hurt you, okay?" Arith said mockingly, this red head was getting on her nerves yet the red head just shook her head and smacked her hand across Arith's arm. Arith starred at her hand and started laughing non-stop. Valerie let go of it and walked into the cafeteria a bit shaken by Arith's attitude, she was pretty much falling on the floor out of laughter. Kimni walked to her a bit alarmed and checked her hand; it was slightly pink but still…

"What the heck was that?" She said gently starring at Arith's tear stricken face, she was trying to get up but she kept mouthing she couldn't breath from her laughter, Kimni gave up and left her there.

Now Arith was running for her honor all the way to the finish line with the Red head trying to beat her. Ayame was grinning as the Red head; spluttering and coughing finally passed the girls and went off after Arith, "GOOD LUCK VALERIE!" She called out; Valerie just looked at her disgusted and kept running. Aranell was looking at her as if about to attack her but her attention turned to the stands at the far side of the stadium, someone dressed in blue was looking out to the distance at the direction of the Red head.

"What the hell, it's Vergil!" She called out pointing at Vergil's direction, he other girls turned to stare and realized she was joking, that was him all right. He was leaning back on the stands and looking after Arith…. They found this pretty creepy.

"What a pedophile…" Aranell stated throwing him the finger although it was no use considering he never turned. Kimni looked after Arith and then back at Vergil not saying a word out of exhaustion… that's when it happened.

The first thing that happened was that Vergil had stood up on the bleachers and was starring intensely at Arith, Kimni turned her head and saw why he was so concerned… she was glowing red.

"ARITH! STOP YOUR SHIT!" Ayame and Aranell started yelling running faster in order to catch up to Arith, but it was no use. She was gaining speed like crazy. Kimni stopped running seeing Aranell and Ayame cutting through the tracks in order to catch up to Arith, everyone around the track was looking at Arith, not all of them though. She turned her head at Vergil and caught his glance; he nodded and disappeared on the spot. If you paid attention, you could distinctly see the outline of a blue figure running beside Arith. Ayame and Aranell tried running faster, the glowing behind Arith was starting to look like a tail, and then it ended. Arith went flying through the air and smashed into the ground sliding on the tracks and finally reaching a stop a few feet from the finish line. She was gasping for breath as the instructor came running to her.

"Stupid Vergil…" Kimni mouthed and started running using the same path Ayame and Aranell had cheated with. When she finally reached the group, Ayame and Aranell were all ready there asking the Coach to take her to the dressing rooms, Arith was sitting up rubbing her lower leg in rage, Vergil must have tripped her. The coach was frowning gently.

"I don't know what happened just now but… Arith, you are a good runner. Ever been in track?"

"Track?" Arith mouthed gently through clenched teeth when Valerie came jogging past them making her hair bounce behind her, looking more like a gazelle then a student. Arith growled furiously and stood up sprinting to the finish line… Valerie tried to sprint but her 'phat pharms' weren't good enough. Ayame looked after the two girls and finally saw Arith had reached the finish line and fell back on the floor exhausted, Valerie shrieking in rage that she had cheating.

"You cheated, I'm the best runner this school has had thus far…"

"WOMAN!" Arith gasped pointing a guilty finger at her, "I BEAT YOU FAIR AND SQUARE…. IF IT WASN'T FOR THAT LITTLE…"

"Ma'am, obviously, Arith is hurt, can we be allowed to take her to the locker rooms for a bit?" Aranell butted in speaking loud enough to cover up what Arith was about to say, Valerie shrieked as she saw that the couch just nodded and began jotting down 100's to the group… Valerie got a 95 for being 5th. Between the three girls, they started carrying Arith towards the locker rooms whispering for her to keep her mouth shut. After a while, they reached the locker rooms and shuddered because of the difference in temperature. It was freezing outside but the locker rooms were always warm.

"Damnit Arith, what the hell was that for!" Aranell called out making sure no one was in the hall outside before closing the door and turning to her.

"What! I didn't do it on purpose!" Arith protested sitting on a bench rubbing the bruised spot on her lower leg, the markings on it made it seem like if someone had taken hold of it for finger marks were appearing.

"Oh really? Didn't you say you wanted to run faster?" Ayame stated whispering all irritated starring at her bruise nervously.

"Look, I said that but I didn't mean it literally, I don't know what happened. One minute I was running and the next I was on fire and then Vergil- what the hell was he doing there!"

"Keeping you from exploiting your true identities…" said a voice from the corner of the locker rooms. Vergil was leaning on the wall separating the Shower section and the locker section starring at the ceiling irritated. Arith groaned and pointed at him angrily.

"What the hell are you doing here!"

"I was tipped off that one of you would do something stupid. Why am I not surprised." He said turning his head to her, at once, Arith coward back and mumbled something under her breath about castration. Ayame butted in seeing the awful treatment of Arith by the demon boy and patted Arith's back. "Well, you shouldn't have hurt her you know. Dante won't be to happy about this."

"I didn't hurt her…" Vergil said with wide opened eyes, Kimni snorted and shook her head. "You tripped her… that's why she fell."

"How can I trip her when her feet weren't touching the ground." Vergil spoke, raising his voice a bit more in order to make his point clear, the girl were taken aback at this.

"Wait, Arith can fly?" Aranell stated somberly, "I thought I was wind…"

"No, she can't." Vergil said walking to Arith whom was still rubbing her leg, "But the thing attached to that tail we all saw can."

"That's right! There was something holding onto me before you appeared and took it off. What was it?" Arith said gently in awe, Vergil was examining the marking on her leg, he had taken hold of her a bit to tightly, and he had been in devil trigger.

"Maybe it's your animal thingy." Aranell stated starting to find it uncomfortable that a boy was in a girl's locker room. Kimni was starting to feel the same but was looking the other way in though. "I wonder if Dante knows."

"He probably does, we'll ask him tonight."

"Yep."

Vergil turned to look at tem all in turn. So, Future was right, they were being lectured by Dante… this wasn't good. He turned back to Arith who was looking at him awkwardly.

"Why are you in a girls locker room?"

"Needed to make sure you were okay."

"Stop lying…"

"Stop flirting you two…" Aranell called out smirking peering out through the door, footsteps could be heard on the other side.

"We got company."

Before Arith or Vergil could protest to this, she pushed him into a shower stall and closed the curtains coming back to sit down at her' thrown' where she sat there proudly knowing it was Valerie. It was.

The red head marched into the locker room and starred at the four girls all-quiet and starring back, Valerie was frustrated.

"So, how did you do it?"

"Do what?" Arith answered back smirking proudly, "Kick your ass?"

"No, how did you cheat!"

"I didn't cheat chick, and I don't like red heads I don't even know to talk to me like if they know me… you better watch yourself chica."

"You think I'm afraid of…. wait… what's that smell?"

It barely hit the four girls that the locker room smelled of old spice; Kimni twitched giving the shower stall across the room the evil eye. Arith blushed gently and shook her head.

"What smell?"

"It smells like male perfume in here…"

"Male perfume?" Aranell called out laughing, shaking her head in dismay. "You do not know what a male perfume smells like."

"That's Axe, that is." Ayame added raising her finger in her nerdy way, Kimni and Arith both nodded and stated proudly. "You're smelling Old Spice." Valerie frowned and shook her head in a way rich people would tell others that the conversation was over she just changed the subject. "So why does it smell like 'old spice' in here." She lifted her hands in order to make the little parenthesis sign after and before she said Old Spice. Aranell was the first to react, "Because… Arith's boyfriend-"

"My what!"

"Yeah..." Ayame said, opening Arith's locker and taking out Dante's cloak and tossed it at Valerie, Arith shrieked taking it from her hands instantly as if it would get contaminated. It was enough to prove that the smell was coming from the coat and that Arith did have a boyfriend, which pretty much made Valerie shriek in hysteria. "How can this be, who are you people. I'll have my revenge, you just wait." She said gently walking out the door after flicking her arm at Arith in a gesture people know as 'talk-to the-hand'. It was sad…

As the door closed behind her, Arith turned to Aranell. "Good job chick, now it's going to be all over the school that I have a boyfriend."

"That should be a good thing," Aranell said mockingly ignoring Vergil's evil stare.

"Yes dude, but that would have been okay if I did have one. If people find out I don't have one, they'll say I'm desperate."

"And ever since when did you care about what others though, eh?" Kimni stated in, still a bit shaken by not being able to smell the Old Spice. Arith turned to her and stood up proudly. "Ever since that bitch, Valerie said she was going to get revenge. She's trying to mess with my dignity. I swear, I'm going to kidnap her and give her to the crack addict at the college…"

The bell rang and the girls sighed, Ayame poked Ariths foot again and she shrieked in pain.

"Meh, not healed yet…"

"Of course not you idiot, gosh. Oy, Vergil, you got a pain killer of some… sort. Where the hell did he go?" The door closed with a loud shut and that left the girls there in silence. Arith sighed gently and rubbed her leg once more, Vergil was so emo at times. The others began to change getting ready to go home. Once they were ready they started taking out their things from the locker and Arith realized her locker had been opened, that would explain why Ayame had been able to pop it open easily. She looked inside it and found nothing… it was sad in a way, she kept hoping he'd leave a letter saying Hi or something.

Dante was in a good mood when they got home, he was excited about something and kept telling the girls whenever they asked that they'd see later. It was Chinese takeout that night and a small game of teasing around the kitchen table as the girls were making fun of Arith's little fire spurt.

"Then she had a tail… it was awesome but so unattractive" Aranell was mocking ignoring the hurt face Arith was giving her. She was flicking her fork at her direction but it seemed Arith kept going lower and lower into her chair.

"Looked like a freakin beast." Ayame said thinking about it clearly, she had taken up Dante's bet in eating with chopsticks. It was a rigorous task but she wasn't giving up. Arith was cowering in her chair starring at her food with no appetite; she was ashamed of what happened at school. Dante was eyeing her from the corner of his eye and sighed gently throwing her a piece of rice to get her attention.

"Hey emo kid, it's all right. Stuff like this happen. Like the first time I accidentally Devil Triggered in public. Then it happened again at a Wal-Mart… it sucks but people forget about it. You'll see." He added reassuringly, Arith just nodded and went on eating her noodles. She was wearing Dante's borrowed coat and shuffled in her seat feeling a slight chill out of nowhere. Kimni passed her some apple juice to cheer her up which Arith took without complaining. It was in this moment of silence that Dante decided to show them what he got.

"Look babes, I got you all a present, in honor of Halloween." Dante said proudly making his way upstairs, "Be right back!" He disappeared into the hall and his footsteps could be heard ascending the stairs, the girls sat there slightly confused when Arith laughed.

"The idiot. 'In honor of Halloween', what's he celebrating, the birth of Lucifer?" She spoke softly shaking her head. Kimni was about to protest to this when Dante appeared holding presents.

"Oh my god, he is celebrating Lucifer's birthday…" Aranell said shocked as Dante started passing out a box for each. He lifted his gaze at their expressions and shrugged. "No, I'm not celebrating the Devil's birthday you fools, I'm giving you presents."

"Dante…" Arith butted in seeing that her box was decorated with frosty the snowman cartoons, obviously Dante couldn't wrap presents for shit, "you don't give presents on Halloween, that's Christmas."

"I… knew that." He said slightly quietly ignoring the mocking grin coming from Aranell and Ayame. "I just couldn't wait that long and…. and they were ready to go. So happy Halloween!" It took a bit more of encouragement from Dante to get the girls to open the presents but in the end they were all surprised…

"Oh my Gosh…" Arith began to shriek as she said this taking out the cloak residing inside the box. It was completely black except for the edges and some engravings; they were a dark crimson red. The leather was light yet stayed in place when she wore it; she looked like some matrix chick. The other girls received the same pattern on their cloaks but in each as own respected color. They even came with gloves.

"Dante," Ayame poke after she had tried on the gloves, which held the symbol of water from her book on the top of her hand, " what's all this for?"

Dante was swinging on his chair drinking the last drops of his tomato juice when he turned to Ayame grinning. "You babes need to fight with style so I made you your uniforms. No, don't tell me, you don't have to thank me, just say you like them."

"These things kick ass!"

"Yeah, they rock!"

"You're the main man, man!"

Dante smiled proudly once more and scratched his head taking hold of Arith's box and rummaging through the gift-wrap. "I even got you all a battle suite. They look kick ass, you wear them under the cloak." He passed Arith hers and the other girls stopped to look at the suite. It was odd, it had two parts to it, one was like the whole jumpsuit and from the looks of it, and it was tight. There were different embroidery figures and words on the black leather yet they didn't stand out as much, they looked natural. They were long sleeved and over the waist, you tied a sort of sash, which fell down making it, look like a semi skirt… it looked like one of those things the Chinese fighters wore.

Arith starred at the suit slightly disgusted and frowned.

"Does it really have to fit us that tight?"

Dante grinned, "I have to have my fun, remember?"

There were few moans and mumbles of irritation but then again, the suits were kick ass. For a few more minutes the girls kept bustling around the costumes, fixing the ruffles and arguing which would look better, Dante just sat there proudly smirking to himself as he popped open another tomato juice can, this was paradise in his opinion.

As if by chance, the phone rang and everyone went quiet, Dante turned his head slowly to the kitchen phone and grinned standing up and going to it.

"Devil May cry… yes…. Yes…. What, are you serious? We can dispose of that, no problem… uhh…. Really, a very good odd number, sir… up front only, got it. Password… we'll be there in five." Dante hanged up and turned to the girls grinning.

"Seems the undertaker found a lodging at some old retirement home, you babes ready to try those out?"

"Hell's yeah!" There was a loud bustle as the girls ran upstairs to get dressed leaving Dante looking after them with a smile, "I am the man, yes indeed…"

It had been exactly two hours since the girls, accompanied by Dante, had left the DMC Agency. It was already 7: 45 and the halls were showered in darkness as Vergil made his way up the stairs to the girl's room, this place had changed…

For almost a week, Dante had been giving those girls precious information that would interfere with Vergil's plans. As he stepped onto plain landing, he looked around; his patience and mercy had been decreasing since he found out this news from the Trio. What the hell was Dante telling those girls and what was he keeping to himself? If only he could find out…

His boots were making a hollow echo on the wooden floor making it seem like if he were a bat using echolocation to walk through the darkness. He was passing some doors when he caught the scent; Arith's room was to his right. He turned gently to the door and held the knob in his hand twisting it quietly; he was welcomed by the scent of roses.

The girls had taken up to placing scented candles all over the Agency, she said Dante smelled bad. The whole place now smelled with a mixture of Ariths candles and Kimni's flowers Arith had made her grow a few days ago. It had been to long in his opinion that he hadn't stepped into Arith's room, a single candle illuminated Arith's dresser and the lights from the street made awkward zigzags on the walls… she left the stereo on again.

Although his main goal was to find any writing or clues that would lead to what the girls had been talking about all those days in the restaurants getting 're-educated'. Where was he going to start looking first? First things first, attack the drawer.

Combs, candles, creams, CD's, a cell phone charger, colors, marker, play doe… for God's sakes… There was one drawer, the second one down from the left that he knew what it would contain, he ignored it and checked the shelves, nothing. Under the Bed, nothing. He was going to move to the next room; maybe one of the other girls had something when he couldn't take it anymore. That accursed drawer kept looming into his head gnawing at his mind. He walked uneasily towards it and starred at it for a while trying to decide whether it would be safe to open it. This really wasn't right, the privacy of ones intimacy was important. It wasn't that he was becoming soft hearted it was just after the incident the other day anything intimate with Arith seemed very awkward, she wasn't Marie. Also, knowing Arith, if she ever found out, she'd go insane and kill him. This made Vergil smile a bit, he loved to see her angry. He extended his arm and opened the demented drawer

"I know you put it here…" he said gently and foreboding

Ignoring the under garments (really, he was looking the other way) his hand finally felt something hard. He pulled it out and found it was Arith's diary, she was so predictable. This was it, the moment of truth, he moved himself to the bed they weren't going to get home any time soon so resting a bit wasn't a problem. He laid down on the bed starring at the book he was clutching this was nerve breaking! He had to read everything for he couldn't take it with him. His hands flipped through the pages excitedly, his eyes working and straining to see with the light from the candle. His blue eyes seemed bright as the flames danced in them. He had found the page:

Nov/ 12/ 05

Man! Today was weird! We went to some pimped out Mexican restaurant today for our 'story time' as Dante likes to call it. We talked about our old self's…. Marie sure had a thing for Vergil. Man, she's lucky. Dante keeps tipping me off that "Vergil isn't what he seems," but I'm sure that somewhere inside the coldness of his heart there's something soft and cuddly that if you rub it the right way… man, that sounded so wrong! Crap, I have no eraser, oh well; it's only between you and me anyway. Yeah, I haven't seen that white boy for a while so I'm sad. I miss that white boy. On another note it's true that Dante has been sleeping in my room in order to catch Vergil red handed… We played monopoly ALL NIGHT LONG! HAHAHAH! It was awesome… anyway; I started my days today and-

Vergil slammed the book shut satisfied, he didn't want to know what came nest so he stayed there starring at the ceiling taking everything in, the book resting on his chest.

So she knew about Marie, Vergil thought with a small defiant sigh. That name was still troubling him ever since the incident, it wasn't one of those things you can easily forget; he realized he still loved her, or did he? A demon shouldn't love, it was showing weakness. Love was a weakness and not power, that's what he always told himself whenever his mind traced off to Marie's memory but with Arith's presence, it was becoming a bit harder to understand. With dismay, he lifted the journal and starred at it blankly.

Could I really fall for some insignificant fallacy? He muttered. He hadn't seen the decorations around the book now that he caught glimpses of it. He raised it up gently so the lights from the street would hit it. There were pictures, random pictures of the four friends; the rest was made of red velvet covering. It was amazing how Arith seemed so different but in the end always ended up to be exactly the same as Marie. The main difference between the two was that Arith actually liked him and thought of him as her 'prince in blue armor', so she states on page 34 in the diary, and Marie…

What was that to him, ever since when did he have to suffer for anyone? It wasn't his fault that Arith was ignorant and a fool, you can't change people over night, no matter how hard you tried. Vergil found himself sitting up now, half his face covered by darkness while the other covered by the orange light. His eyes were closed and his hands were tightly holding onto the Journal. His stiff body began to shake in rage as memories of the last time he had seen Marie so many years ago, flooded into his mind… her delicate body lying on her bed covered in blood… if only he could have helped her, taken her to heart completely-

"Hell's yeah, we're home bitches!"

Vergil jumped to his feet in alarm as Arith's voice echoed up the stairs, into the hall and right into Arith's room, there were murmurs signaling they had all returned; early at that. Stealthily and noiselessly, he walked to the door in attempt to sneak out the back, but the hallway lights went on, he quickly hid back into the safe shadows of the room and peered out through the gap of the door to see Dante and Arith racing up the stairs. It seemed the bathroom was the prize. To Arith's great discontent, Dante arrived before she did and slammed the door making her crash into it full force. It took a few seconds and a pair of curses for Arith to regain her posture.

"Damnit white boy! You're going to contaminate OUR bathroom!" She called out helplessly jumping on her tiptoes. Dante's voice could be heard but it sounded slightly muffled yet the tone of mock on his voice was still present.

"Babes, you al keep the bathroom spotless clean. I should start using this one…"

The sound of muffled rummaging came to Arith's ears, which only triggered her fury to the max.

"Oh look! Overnights!" Dante squealed mocking the poor girl who was now banging on the bathroom door like a lunatic. Arith was pounding her fist rapidly on the door in hopes of being able to break it.

"Dante Sparda, you keep you're hands off our crap or so help me God I'll-"

"And they do smell like Chamomile! That's scary…"

Arith was outraged, she started cussing him out but Dante only whistled in return commenting on how clean the toilet paper was and stuff. What Vergil was looking for was an exit and with those two, he was pretty much screwed; the window was the only way out even though it was becoming overrated. Just when he thought things couldn't get worse, the rest of the girls appeared outside the bathroom door and began arguing amongst themselves, Arith was still banging on the door until Kimni took hold of her in order to calm her.

"It's okay, why didn't you stop him though?"

"You think I didn't try?" Arith said sounding almost heartbroken turning her attention to the door mumbling something about burning it down; Vergil noticed that Ayame's attention wasn't fixed on the door but on Dante's room.

"Great," Aranell said heaving a disappointed and irritated sigh, " We're going to have to make a major sterilization in that bathroom, I'll bring the Clorox." She turned around defeated and began walking down the steps shaking her head in shame; it was such a pretty bathroom!

Arith and Kimni starred after Aranell but turned to see where Ayame was heading to; Dante's bedroom, before the girls could say anything, she turned around raising her index finger in a nerdy way.

"Now that the lion has left his den, it leaves us a fortunate advantage to cause havoc, ya'll!"

There was a long moment of silence until the distinct splashing indicating Dante was doing his necessities. Arith growled and punched the door in rage.

"You better be aiming right!"

"Babe, Honestly! Do I look like a fool to you? I never miss…"

"And what happened today, Hu? That Sin Scissors almost killed me!"

"Do you really want me to comment on that at this particular moment?"

"Arith, just leave him…" Kimni interrupted nervously, "you don't want him to miss."

With one last impatient sigh Arith gave up. She mumbled something about going to get a scented candle and both Kimni and Ayame laughed.

"Bring one of the Cherry smelling ones, I like those!" Ayame called as she started dragging Kimni into Dante's room whispering a few instructions into her ear.

"Oh shit…" Vergil said under his breath as he backed away from the door and into the room once more pressing himself on the wall, it seemed the window was the only way out… again. With fast reflexes yet being quiet and stealthy, he moved to Arith's dresser and plumaged his hand into the forsaken drawer making sure the Journal was completely covered from view, he was all ready hot in the face for having to look at the contents. He heard her footsteps coming closer and finally extracted his hand from the drawer closing it briskly; he didn't realize he had taken a garment along with him. He then quickly moved to the window and lifted his arms to open it-

"What the…" he would have thrown that damn bra to the floor and pretend it never happened but he knew better, she's come in and see it and then he was screwed, she'd know someone was looking at her diary and she's probably suspect him or Dante. With a sigh of regret and fury, he shoved it into one of his coat pockets and jumped off the window and landed perfectly, with the last minutes to spare, he turned once more to look at the open window slightly embarrassed and annoyed, this didn't turn out the way he planned…

Arith entered the room still whispering death threats towards Dante and gesticulating away in her temperament, her figure moved swiftly to her dresser not bothering to turn on the light. A few months living in a place gave you that advantage of memorizing where everything was. Arith was muttering to herself about blueberry being better as she rummaged through the various candles on the dresser when she noticed there was a lot of noise, she turned to the open window and starred at it confused, not being able to remember if she had left it open or not. At that moment, a thought struck her and her face lit up in an instance. In no time, she was at the window looking out like a child on Christmas day mesmerized at the snow, sadly there wasn't anything out there.

"Vergil?" She called seamlessly into the wind yet there was no answer- of course there wasn't one, what was she thinking? The cold air was sweeping around her making the cold unbearable, she finally gave up and laughed nervously thinking herself an idiot as she closed the window. She stayed there a few minutes, her eyes fixed on the street before turning away and walking back into the hallway, she was being childish.

"Sure Arith, as if you had a chance… lucky Marie…what the-"

Arith finally spotted her undergarments drawer and realized it was really untidy… she didn't leave it like that, did she? She walked up to it and starred at it for a few minutes contemplating on that could have done it. It wasn't her because she knew very well what was in there was very sacred…. There was no computer so a book was all she had to bitch at. The only one in here that would be tempted to go through undergarments would be a guy Dante was a good candidate.

"What the hell, who moved my guns!"

So, he was out of the cage. Arith took her candle and marched out angrily her suit swaying gently at her stride making it seem like if she was going to rage war on Dante. As she entered the hallway, she saw Dante standing at the door of his bedroom looking around helplessly and agitated with only a towel covering him from a very low line below the belt to his knees. Arith stopped dead in shock dropping the candle to the floor with a thus that quickly caught Dante's attention who quickly turned to her in a fury.

"Where the hell are my guns!"

Before the blushing Arith could start her stuttering as an explanation, Kimni came out of the bathroom; her glasses fogged up from the mist and her cheeks a rosy tinge. She let the clothes se was holding fall to the floor and turned angrily at Dante removing her glasses in order to clean them. At the sight of her, Dante stood up a bit more straighter then usual, making sure his towel was at the lowest point it could be without exposing anything, he even let strands of his hair fall over his face cause 'that's what the ladies like'.

" I swear Dante, we aren't your maids. The least you could do is take your own damn clothes out after making us go through all the trouble and- what are you doing!" She shrieked out in horror starring at the pink towel around his waist, it was her towel that was covering his 'sacred parts'. Dante blinked and followed her gaze to his middle, which made him grin proudly.

"Now, now, Kimni, It would be considered child molestation if I tried anything with-"

"I am talking about the towel you're wearing!" She pointed at it taking a few steps completely ignoring Arith's pale face. Dante finally realized why she was making big fuzz and stretched as if the matter was nothing.

"You want it back?"

"Yes I want it back, and sterilized too, you perv!" Kimni shouted walking to him in attempt to retrieve her now condemned towel, at this sudden game play, Dante took the offensive and quickly made himself the victim raising his hands into the air in arrest flexing his muscles in the process.

"Take me officer, I'm guilty as charged!"

Kimni's hands were extending for the towel but she finally got reason into her; under that towel was world in which she didn't want to venture in. Only a dumbass would fall for his trick of taking it off, she mutters something about Dante being an idiot and turned to walk to her room in utter frustration. As she passed Arith, she could see that Kimni was in a pretty bad mood… it was nasty to see her all ticked off, such a pretty little girl!

"Hey Kimni," Dante called out mockingly not getting that he had gone a bit to far, "you can borrow mine, it was an emergency!"

"Do I look like Felicia to you, Dante?" she said gently not turning to look at his expression, Dante shrugged gently and his gaze fell on Arith who gave him a shrug in return, that was a good rhetorical question there.

"I haven't forgotten what you did, you know. Just… take it easy and mature a bit, ya? I'm not mad at you, just so you know…I'm not a …"

"Wimp?" Arith asked mockingly shrugging towards Dante in code, she just blushed, shook her head and walked to her room without another word, shutting her door slowly. Dante walked up beside Arith and looked at the clothes on the ground as if expecting them to walk off on its own, Arith turned to him going crimson again.

"You know, she does have a point there…" Arith said slowly afraid Dante would start attacking her out of the blue he was emo like that. Dante answered this by placing his arm around her shoulders with a shrug and pouting at her, "So now my home girl is going to backstab me, is that it?" He said turning his attention once more on the door.

"Phht, hells yeah I can backstab you! Kimni was my home G way before you came along son. And why the hell are you hugging me, you're in a damn towel you perv, let me go!" Arith began squirming in order to get free and Dante, with a yawn, let her go smirking as she pretended to brush herself off.

"Missed a spot."

"Hu?"

Before Arith could even defend herself, Dante grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him ruffling up her hair, Arith shrieked in rage punching him hard on his stomach as she broke free and stood a few feet away ready to pounce, Dante just yawned again.

"If you find my guns, it'll me much appreciated, heck…" He placed his hands on his waist and winked seductively at Arith grinning at the fact she was turning red. "… I'll make it worth your while, sister."

"Whatever, I don't do use things. Go change you, you're starting to freak me out." She turned around and walked downstairs leaving with the image of Dante picking up his clothes. She was smiling slightly; he had called her sister again. Dante reminded her of her own brother so much, of course, her brother wasn't a perv like Dante but hey, Dante's maturity lacked behind by a lot. It was a good thing that she had Dante there like a brother if she needed anything; it even felt as if he'd been there for the longest time… it was an awkward feeling. She didn't tell him anything; of course, all Dante knew was that he could always go to her if the others were mocking him, which was mostly everyday. Heck, they would play monopoly on school nights until 4 in the morning. She made her way into the kitchen and found Aranell and Ayame having a very heated argument as the squatted too look into the cabinet below the sink.

"Aranell, some people don't like the way Clorox smells and besides, it irritates peoples skins and-"

"The irritation only means that the damned cleaner is working, Ayame. If it hurts you so much, you can wear gloves." Aranell protested throwing her a packet of gloves yet Ayame was still holding true to that bald old genie and starred menacingly at the Clorox that Aranell was now holding, to her advantage she began to notice the reddish tone-taking place in her hand.

"Look at your hands!" She protested clapping her hands together desperately, Aranell ignored both her cries and the stinging from her hand, and she knew the Clorox wasn't working for her benefit. Arith couldn't help bit grin at this and simply went to the fridge for some juice getting an excuse to stick around.

"And what are you all bitching about?"

At once, Ayame turned having heard Arith's voice and grabbed her firmly from her elbow pushing her towards the two girls; Aranell was looking intensely at Ayame clutching faithfully to her Clorox like a mother with her child at the sight of danger. Arith looked at them blankly not wanting to interfere in their fighting but be a mere spectator off in the safe line.

"Okay, Arith will decide which we use, agreed?" Ayame said business like raising her forefinger into the heavens as if conjuring the righteous law, Aranell, with a few small inhales of stubbornness, gave into the proposition recoiling back knowing what would be her answer.

"Agreed…"

"Hey wait a sec-"

The tormenting eyes of Aranell were burning into Arith's threateningly, it seemed sparks of flame might leap out at her any minute, Arith simply moved behind Ayame who was grinning proudly knowing to well the outcome of this gamble.

"Well, Mr. Clean does smell better…"

"NO!" Was the only thing heard from the anguished and remorseful Aranell whom had sustained the pain from the Clorox bottle only to be rejected? She sighed slightly and calmed down giving Ayame an approving look.

"Tough luck. You agreed." Ayame said now bustling around looking for rags. Arith was looking disapprovingly at the two containers biting her bottom lips in thought, Aranell caught sight of this and brought her fingers to snap Arith out of concentration, Arith just blinked.

"What's wrong?" Aranell said looking at the bottles as if some disgusting comment or picture had taken Arith's attention but was surprised of the proud roar of Arith's booming face as she called forth her idea.

"We shall make a new invention with the power of Clorox yet the smell of Mr. clean!"

At once, Arith began looking for a bottle in order to mix the two cleaners in; Ayame and Aranell looked at each other nervously and began advancing to burst Arith's bubble.

"Arith there's a lot of things to consider you know…" They both said nervously as Arith had now found the Windex and was trying to pour it into the Mr. Clean.

June 23,

I met him again tonight, but this time, of all nights, he confided in me his feelings, O, that tragic sin of unrequited love, how could it have fallen upon me! His words were like a verse from a fairy tale, his voice and tone like a messenger from god- almost as if he himself weren't truly the condemned form in which his whole being revolves around, but something, or someone, much purer at heart, body and mind. We had to change our meeting place in fear that Katherine might find out about us, it pains me to have to lie to her, of all people, the mother I never had who is also my best friend, but yet, who I consider an intrusion to my own passion. O, how the greed and turmoil burns in my chest making me feel as if the very own fires from hell have resided in it keeping me locked to this false life of betrayal, passion, and love. I fear my own actions might bring hence my own doomsday – my faithful Dante speaks otherwise, he will not let me fall into that enclosed abyss of sin. Our meeting place tonight was in the 'Seerress's Den', it location stands on the farthest point going west at the moment of stepping foot out into the gardens. It's a beautiful place consisting of a dome built with pure marble by the founders of the Elemental Guard itself as a meditating sanctuary in the middle of a lake. During the spring, the surrounding lake is covered with the fallen cheery blossoms which adorn the clear blue waters with a cheerful haze, in the summer, tiger lilies take over the cherry blossoms job and make the heat seem bearable. But during the winter, the water freezes over making the strong citadel a chamber of ice suitable for the very own Ice queen of winter, we met here, the giver of life to ideas and life, and he told me what he felt- he loves me! He wants me and he wants to be with me, he told me this so honestly, his whole self-rising as if proud to have made a step in his life, that simple honor of man that I heard of was a new experience to me. He added his feelings with a kiss and a small caress over my cheek but I stayed speechless, trapped between the world I have always known as morality, and the make believe one run only by the hearts desire.

I spoke to Emilia about the matter… she said it was a risky business this whole term of love, but it was worth it. Marie mocks me by calling me sister in law, either because of her own affection to Dante or of her personal whereabouts with Vergil, which I am starting to take interest in for Arith's sake. I saw her cheerful and happy today dancing and singing to herself whenever she had the chance as if the very own fire element inside her had burst anew and made of pure joy. I mock her telling her she looks even more beautiful when she smiles; like a sprite from the old times. I can't really say anything about that Vergil Sparda, he seems a bit to bold in my opinion. Dante says he's horrible, egotistic, a beast of vermin, and a traitor- he is completely against his relationship with Arith's, who he takes to heart so kindly as his very own sister. What I do strongly believe in is that if Vergil makes Arith happy enough for her to smile and laugh all the time, then he's accepted in my book. Anyway, my mind is still on my handsome prince, he acts with people differently from when he's around me. I love him, if love is the right word for this feeling in my chest now that seems to wave from the pit of my stomach. These past few days I have longed for his touch, his lips, and his voice to caress me in my own mind- heavens, I've gotten to deep into this love…

No matter how much Kimni ignored the fact that Felicia was her old self and tried to read the incerpts as if this whole book was just another book, it still pained her as if she knew what that long lost love felt like, she knew what longing those loving kisses, knowing what a caress felt like yet… she had never experienced any of this. She hadn't even kissed a guy in her whole life. She closed the book gloomily ending the green glow from the book that was showering the room in whole going back to that semi darkness of the room.

It was quiet upstairs now that the commotion was over, she sighed angrily, or better yet, anxious at something she didn't know what and went back to what she was suppose to be doing, homework. With an involuntary gesture, she rubbed her eyes gently and stood up walking to the door trying to find an excuse for her to keep her mind off the homework. At opening the door, Kimni realized Arith had forgotten to place the candle for it was lying on the hallway abandoned and without purpose. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Aranell's griffin come out from Aranell's bedroom and strut along the hallway looking at Kimni as it walked. The pup hadn't noticed the candle until he was practically in front of Kimni; he stopped and starred at the piece of glass invading his territory and his way. His ears perked up and slanted backwards as he made its way to it, Kimni following every movement closely. It finally reached the candle and smelled it, sniffing here and there inspecting it… Kimni had a bad feeling about this. Soon enough, she saw that he began to lift his hind legs-

"Wait, no! Not there, not there! Go outside you crazy flying dog or whatever!" Kimni shouted waving her arms and pointing down the stairs, at once, the griffin took offense of her gesticulations and began growling at her. The poor girl had to remember that that thing was an animal either way, if it wanted to harm her it could. She moved back slowly hoping it would calm down when the phone rang downstairs. The pup stopped it's growling and turned its head down the stairs where the girls were shouting Dante's name. At once, Dante's bedroom door flew open and he came out like some super hero at his calling. Kimni turned to look at him as he ran to the stairs, but stopped and picked up the griffin.

"Excuse me my lady, how are you hair ball?"

The poor griffin was kidnapped downstairs growling and trying to bite at Dante's hand that was petting it; Kimni couldn't help but feel sorry for the thing. She made her way downstairs and into the kitchen where Dante was taking notes on a piece of paper and the girls were sitting at the table starring gravely at the phone like if some one died. Before she could speak, she heard the cries from the phone.

"PLEASE, IT'S HORRIBLE, THEY TOLD ME TO CALL HERE, THEY SAY IF YOU DON'T COME THEY'LL KILL MY FAMILY SIR!" was what the other voice was saying as Dante winced moving the phone farther from his ears, he was looking slightly frustrated and called back.

"Ok ma'am, I'm going to ask you to hide, or if that isn't possible, run away, by any means possible. We'll get to your home in no time. I'm sorry for your inconvenience…" Before the woman could speak he hanged up the phone and starred at the address completely confused. The girls all looked at him, the griffin and sprout were on the kitchen counter as quiet and grave as the girls. This was what they feared…

"It seems the trio is trying to rat us out. If you ask me, a weak plot but affective."

"What are we going to do?" Arith asked shyly, her face paler then usual. "If we do go, maybe it's a trap."

"Or a blessing in disguise," Dante interrupted scratching his head," maybe they think their ready for their little magic trick and knowing them, they're stupid enough to let us know."

The girls all frowned at this knowing little of the over all plot of the trio but knowing that it wasn't good, Ayame stood up and nodded. "So it's settled. We go…"

The girls all nodded in agreement and started running upstairs to change but Dante stopped them.

"Wait, I want to tell you all something."

"Come on Dante, there's no time!" Arith called out all ready at the top of the steps; she would have kept on going but the saddened expression in which Dante looked at them all made her stop and watch. Dante seemed to be trying to say something but couldn't say it, he was choking, he finally turned to look away and sighed gently grabbing his sword and placing it behind him.

"You got 5 minutes. Then we're off."

There was a small hesitation at this, he had said this so quick and quietly, and obviously he didn't want them to go. The girls made their way to change as Dante turned to walk to the door, Sprout and Griffin following him. He looked down at them and smiled weakly, maybe the girls were ready for this. Maybe the Trio wasn't going to do their magic trick, maybe they were just getting cocky… whatever it was, it affected the girls and that's what he detested. He couldn't let anything happen to them, not to them. He had lost them once, Kimni… or Felicia… and he wasn't going to lose her again.

He made his way out into the street where it was now dark; the wind was cold now, almost freezing. He turned his head up to the sky and grinned seeing it was a full moon, a perfect night for demon hunting. He entered back to the warmth of the DMCA and saw that the Griffin and Sprout were still looking at him attentively, he just grinned lifting up his sword whispering under his breath as the girls began appearing running down the stairs:

"Let's rock baby…"

_Authors Note:_

Wow, this chapter would have been even LONGER if Fan-Fiction. Net would have let me. So Yeh, this is just pretty much the first part of an awesome fight scene so doesn't worry. You're in for good chapters to come, I promise!


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

It was hard to keep a straight face when you were standing in front of some scene right off a cheesy scary movie expecting the worst from your enemies- there was obviously something wrong. Our four heroines were found in this same predicament; starring off into the distance at a mansion on the outskirts of New Jersey, a full moon illuminating the vast world ahead of them making the mansion and ground seem ominous, and a cold wind leaving the fallen leaves restless enough to bring shivers up your spine. Arith shuddered as a so called shiver aroused her senses and alertness.

"Dante, you said this was a nursery home. Why did you lie to me?" Arith protested holding onto his arm tighter in reproach and fumbled to get behind him in order to ignore the mansion up ahead, the white boy growled angrily trying to shove her off of him; honestly, when you wanted them all over you they kept their distance and what now?

"Dang it babe, let go of me! That is the nursery home!"

"It looks more like some insane asylum Dante." Ayame muttered shaking her head in shame looking out to the distance at the gates leading to the mansion. "Wow, pretty."

"We're all going to die!"

"No we're not Arith, you're being paranoid."

"I'm too young to die man, why can't we just go home?"

"ARITH, YOU'RE HURTING ME!" Dante shouted making Arith jump a feet away quivering in fear and safely stationed behind Aranell glaring at Dante and muttering something about him being a faggot. This was not the attitude Dante had anticipated from them, not after all they had been through.

"What the hell is your problem, all of you! You act like if this is something impossible, something that hasn't been done before?"

"It hasn't you idiot."

"You know what Kimni?" Dante broke out walking to her in pure irritation at her last comment knowing perfectly well she was right yet still felt ticked off at the fact they weren't getting his drift.

"Sweetheart- sweetheart I know this has never happened before, you know, the whole four sexy babes save the world from three sons of bitches trying to take over the world but… come on, work with me here, okay?"

The four girls starred at each other not exactly knowing what was going on or what was causing Dante's bitchiness- yes I said it, he was being a bitch. Kimni looked up at him confused and shrugged defeated. "Whatever Dante, Arith's always worried and you're the only one that's getting all worked up here…

"…and for a reason."

Once more, Arith jumped bringing Aranell along with her a few feet on the opposite direction making her almost fall forward in surprise. Vergil had now appeared out of no where behind where Aranell and Arith had been running their paranoia in their heads making them pretty vulnerable to any sudden movements. Arith's fingers were tightly clenched on Aranell's shoulders and brought Aranell to her knees in pain. "Dang it girl, let go of me, it burns!" At once, Arith let go throwing her hands into the air as if she had been caught red handed and shook her head in shame, "Sorry chick, I saved you're life though!" she added optimistically staring at her own hands, dang she was a walking disaster. Aranell raised her face and growled angrily as she stood back up making sure to keep a good distance between them.

"Saved me from what?"

Arith automatically pointed a finger at Vergil whom just took it like no bodies business and ignored the comment, Aranell made a weird noise in her throat; obviously she wasn't in the mood to take any crap from anyone at the moment- Arith was hurt.

"Well God Damn, ain't my fault these white idiots keep popping out of no where and shi-"

"What are you doing here Vergil?" Dante interrupted all conversation as he walked towards his twin in alert, his right hand slowly moving to his back where his gun holsters where. "Who invited you to the party?"

The air around them became hostile, yet Vergil kept a serious face keeping his cold blue eyes on Dante at all times.

"I was afraid you wouldn't bring them on the excuse that this was only a setup."

"Even if it is a setup I'm sure 'my girls' will kick those kids ass like nothing. They're ready for it, don't you think?"

Once more that evil grin that made woman shudder; perhaps only Arith, took place and surprisingly Vergil laughed, Dante flushed slightly green in disgust knowing what he was playing at as Vergil spoke.

"Oh, 'your girls' are ready for a challenge like this I think, but are you ready?"

This question caught everyone off guard, what did the white boy have to do with anything? Before the girls could comment on something that involved them in it, Dante stepped forward shouting in his paranoid self.

"Of course I'm ready, the sooner they destroy the trio the faster I can get rid of you. So what, they were bound to have a showdown with those jerks anyway, I trust them- unlike you."

"Don't get me wrong," Vergil spoke out a bit louder in order to hush Dante, "I have great faith in the girls, and they are the only ones that can save the world now." He said this slightly sarcastically with spite in his monotone voice. "I'm only adding emphasize on whom will take the blame if something… disastrous happens. You of all people should know that-"

"THEY ARE NOT GOING TO DIE!"

The girls couldn't keep their mouths shut any longer yet they found they could not speak. Why did everything revolve around their death- like a curse or disease with no cure leaving you wretched for all eternity. The most anyone could do was to stare in confusion; things like these were becoming overrated. Arith began her nervous giggling fit she always got yet they completely forgot about them. Dante continued his frenzy defending the girls.

"They are not going to die because I won't let that happen. Who do you think you are? You came all this way to talk shit and get them even more nervous- you're a selfish son of a-"

"Stop it!"

The two devils stopped their bickering, they even put their swords down and turned to the indignant teen frowning in pity at them, and it wasn't easy making Ayame mad.

"This is not the time for you two to start your immature sword playing. The Trio might be causing havoc inside that place and we might as well go in there and make our stand. I could care less about your bitching Vergil, the way I see it is if we don't stop them no one will. I don't want my family back home to get hurt or anything so I'm willing to sacrifice myself."

All eyes were on Ayame, she was talking sense all right, the other girls starred at her proudly and slightly ashamed considering they hadn't thought about anyone but themselves. At once, Vergil realized this could threaten his plan, if he wanted to inflict fear and win them over their little self sacrificing act would make it harder. He moved forward seeing Dante was, err, touched by this battle cry.

"Well Ayame, I like your optimism of things but I must warn you-"

"Damnit Vergil shut up or what!" Arith interrupted beckoning the others to keep moving, she once more took her place beside Dante holding his arm, and he took her hand tenderly placing his other arm around her in an embrace and reassurance seeing that she was still shaking.

"But this is important if any one of you dies-"

"What don't you understand you jerk?" Aranell exclaimed turning to him in complete disgust. "We are going all right, isn't that good enough for you?"

"No wait that isn't what I meant I-"

"Boy, if you don't shut your trap I am going to shove my staff up your ass."

Vergil stopped dead glaring murderously at Arith as if taking on her threat; he wasn't going to take their insults. "Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I was just kidding!" Arith coward beside Dante ignoring the evil glare that Vergil held upon her for the rest of the trip to the gate, how was he going to do this? The only chance he had of winning them over had failed, flawlessly at that. He had obviously underestimated the girls' spirits and dedication. The night wasn't finished yet though, there was still time to be able to have them destroy the Trio.

"Why are you worried about us dying Vergil?"

Kimni had been looking at him all the while suspecting something traitorous from his part yet she couldn't exactly put the pieces together, the way he was looking at Arith- what a pervert. Feeling all eyes on him, Vergil frowned slightly and turned to look a Kimni taking a few minutes to choose his words carefully, her piercing glance actually made him feel as if she could read his thoughts; that was a first.

"Whether you choose to believe it or not, I, too, worry about your well being."

"Aw, really?" Arith's eyes sparkled in the moonlight and her blushing was concealed in darkness as she let go of Dante's arm touched, Dante made a puking sound starring at Arith reproachfully. Aranell followed suit having a sarcastic laugh before mumbling on her insults.

"I hope you mean all of us in General."

"Of course you dumbass, don't be greedy."

"We're here!" Dante called out aloud not enjoying the attention Vergil was getting, especially not from Kimni. With a bored sigh he made his way to the gate and inspected it, it was suppose to open by itself so when the cars drive up either someone had busted the mechanism or there was no electricity in the mansion. Ayame looked out towards the mansion thinking of what she had said, what happens if all hell had broken loose in there all ready; it would be a suicide mission going in there! With those uncertain blue eyes she looked around at her fellow friends, their faces held the same stern look yet their eyes betrayed them, the same thoughts Ayame was having we're probably going through their heads right now- they have to be strong. Involuntarily, she found herself speaking without exactly thinking.

"So, whose ass are we going to kick first?"

Kimni broke down laughing, Aranell starred at Ayame awkwardly and Arith was thinking- at least she caught their attention.

"I shotgun kicking Future's ass."

"Whatever Arith, you can't kick anyone's ass, you know?" Aranell implored giving her the fingers of shame, "I don't want to go saving your ass all the time."

"Ayame will save me."

"Nope!" Kimni interrupted shaking her head and standing beside Ayame proudly, "She'll be saving me or helping me kick some ass, so too bad!"

"Pfft, she actually needs help to hit something"

"I'm a lone wolf, you know?"

There was a loud bang as Dante sent a round at the gate making it clatter to the floor, Arith quickly coward behind Vergil keeping a firm grip on one of his arms catching the devil by surprise.

"There you go, gates open and off we go." Dante announced proudly kissing his two guns tenderly before putting them back in their holster, "They never fail…"

Once more, the eerie feel of the whole place looking like a haunted mansion began to creep around them. A distinct foul odor caught their noses ever so slightly making it seem as if the whole mansion were decomposing; the evil aura sure did flow out of it by the buckets. Ayame, considering she was the leader of the tribe, took a brave step forward, this was it, the other girls began to follow her each with their own spirit, and they weren't going to fail.

"Eh-hem"

Yep, the whole resolution of going to kick some ass went falling down the drain the moment Vergil interrupted the girls, they all turned to look at him annoyed finally begging to ask the question of why he was here in the first place, Dante wasn't happy either for Arith had tried to walk forward but had seemed to be stopped by Vergil who had both his hands on her shoulders protectively.

"Before you go, you should do your share of summoning."

"Summoning?"

"Yes," He looked at both Kimni and Aranell. "It would be best to have Sprout and Griffin ready for action so you won't give your enemies an advantage as you summon." He finished this with a nod finally letting go of Arith who was frowning. Dante was getting impatient, jumping around and getting all pumped up wasn't a good idea when you were being lagged continuously. He caught Arith's hidden frown and smirked following her with his eyes as she made her way to where Ayame was, not to far away from Ayame. Both Kimni and Aranell stood there for a while, one looking at the sky and the other at the ground- they didn't know what the hell they were doing.

"Any time babes, no hurry."

Two pairs of angry eyes shot at Dante's direction making him sigh in irritation. "Help them out you smart ass." He was talking to Vergil both girls starred at him credulous not exactly believing Vergil could be of any help. Whether he was faking it or not, he made his way first to Kimni standing in front of her a bit to closely for her taste (Arith's giggling didn't help) and looked down at her with those cold blue eyes of his that made you think he was going to kill you.

"What?" The girl answered to the stare shyly as Vergil took her hands and made them press against each other as in prayer- the back of Kimni's head was burning.

"Two ways too do this. One way, slightly uncomfortable, second way-"

"Completely kick ass." Interrupted Dante darkly making sure Vergil hadn't forgotten his presence, so it was his piercing stare that Kimni felt, yet Vergil could care less. His hands were on either side of Kimni's and were pressing them together to the point where the tips were already becoming numb. Had he not been starring at her so, this would have been much easier…

"Concentrate on what you need."

"What?" She asked a bit confused.

"Concentrate on what you want to summon. It'll work the same way with your weapons once you've been able to summon them along. That's another topic so don't ask, you should be reading your books."

"We are rea-"

"Do it!"

She did… anything to get the feeling back in her hands. She closed her eyes imagining Sprout; probably back home on her dresser where he always was… yeah this wasn't working-

"What the-"

At that moment she felt a sort of stinging pain through the inside of her skin, especially her arms. She kept her eyes shut yet the internal stinging was becoming unbearable- as if her own veins had gotten a mind of their own and were finding a way out. She could feel her hands now; Vergil was still holding them together! Kimni opened her eyes and looked up at him scared, why wouldn't he let her go? The veins were fighting to get out from her finger tips and her hands were glowing, her hair had taken on the green streaks and she finally gasped as her hands once more went to their numb self, Vergil quickly let go and moved back as red vines made their way out from her hands. The minute they hit the floor they began to change to a healthy green color, as if the seasons were changing rapidly with the vines. Finally a familiar gurgling noise symbolized Sprout had been summoned successfully. All eyes were on the stump of Vines on the floor to Kimni who was starring at her hands in amazement.

"Oww…"

"Oh, hell no, I don't need Griffin. I'm okay." Aranell began to mutter as she made to get out of the way seeing Vergil was now looking at her like 'you're next.' Kimni had picked up Sprout now and walked to Ayame throwing a hand forward for them to inspect.

"It looked nasty chic." Arith muttered poking her hand and then poking Sprout as if too see if both were fine. "It looked like if you were going all crazy to the inside. It hurt right?"

"It hurts the first time." Dante interrupted taking up Sprout from Kimni's arms and placing him on his shoulder. "You'll get use to it."

Ayame looked at him questioningly as Sprout began to tangle himself in Dante's hair hiding its face behind a curtain of it. "And how do you know."

It was as if he was waiting for someone to ask him that question the way he smiled.

"It's like the first time if you get my drift. It hurts the first time followed with pure numbness and then-"

"WE GET THE POINT YOU PERV!" Arith shouted slapping the back of his head sending Sprout flying to the ground. It quickly began attacking Arith by climbing up her leg wrapping itself around her waist and neck- of course only playfully.

Vergil had somehow found a way to make Aranell give into the summoning and was now facing towards her the same way he had been facing Kimni yet her hands were not pressed together but slightly apart by a few inches. Kimni starred.

"Hey, why doesn't she have her hands together?"

"Because, she must be holding her element in order to summon her beast." Vergil spoke as-a-matter-of-factly taking a brief step backwards.

"Then why was Kimni not touching dirt?"

Kimni gave Arith a piercing glance at the comment making Arith shrug as if saying 'you know it's true'. Once again Vergil answered without looking up. "Because we; ourselves, are made with that which the 'dirt' and things as simple as a plant consist of."

That caught everyone off guard; even Aranell who had been tryin to concentrate had turned to look at the rest questioning Virgil's sanity. Ayame, as clever as she is, quickly spoke out excitedly.

"You mean carbon?"

When everyone had finally gotten back from starring at Ayame Vergil began his little show with Aranell, yet Aranell wasn't as open minded about Vergil as Kimni was. The minute he even tried to hold her hands she quickly moved them out of the way- defiant until the end she always said.

He finally gave up and frowned angrily looking down at her menacingly, he was as stubborn as they could come. "All right, now concentrate, if you can do that right at least."

"Oooo, it's going to hurt!" Arith spoke a bit too loudly and Sprout rushed to cover her mouth as if knowing that wasn't a smart thing to do. Vergil gave Aranell some space and let her be. At once the girl began to imagine all sorts of things, Griffin rushing out of her fingertips like Kimni, out of her head likes Zeus, or maybe out of her-

"Concentrate, why are you laughing!" Vergil called out impatiently. Aranell frowned and began thinking of just having Griffin pop out of thin air as natural as it came. But what happens if it hurt- that damn griffin could pop out of anywhere. Just then it felt as if her hands were vibrating, this almost made her open her eyes yet she realized that was part of the summoning process so she concentrated a bit harder. As the other starred at what was occurring, in the space between her hands there were bolts dancing from one hand to the other, it became much colder now that the wind was flying about where Aranell stood and an actually physical body of air appeared between her hands- like a misty cloud of purple. Her curly hair was flying about her making her seem like some powerful princess of chaos, yet her teeth where clenched, those bolts weren't just a simple light show, she was actually making mini thunderbolts from her bare hands and every time they disappeared into her hands they would sting and burn her skin. Finally the purple cloud moved from her hands and onto the floor, Griffin was sitting down smugly looking up at Aranell as the cloud blew away. Its ears perked up slightly seeing Aranell gasping for breath softly.

"Wow." Was all she said yet that word alone meant so much; Arith and Ayame looked at each other slightly grateful that they hadn't had to summon anything. Vergil seemed to have caught the air of relief and smirked walking on towards the gates, "Don't worry. You two will do that in time, though from what I remember Arith will be summoning her beast from her hair."

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Arith gasped horrified taking hold of the ponytail she had on and inhaled rapidly. "How can I summon anything with my hair, I'll go bald!"

"On the contraire, it actually grows." Countered Vergil smirking at a personal joke ignoring the shocked look Arith was giving him. Involuntarily everyone began to follow Vergil up the drive, Dante; instantly, took a place beside Vergil so as not to be behind him and to be able to watch him at all times. The excitement of the summoning hadn't yet worn off and Ayame starred at Griffin who was now walking about behind them quite protectively.

"And how do I summon mine?" She asked without knowing it.

"Out of thin air, too." Dante called behind him catching Vergil's glance for a few minutes, as if proving to him that he new his stuff as well. Ayame was dumbstruck. Wasn't she water?

"You mostly capture the moisture in the air. Of course, it's much more entertaining to see you summon over a large body of water." Vergil added quickly as if reading her thoughts. That made sense now…

The party was now reaching the front porch after walking what seemed like the length of a football field of pure freshly cut grass. The stench of decay became much stronger the closer they got to the building, it now towered over them casting them into shadow menacingly. Dante stared at the door expecting it to open automatically and frowned angrily kicking it open with one of his heavy work boots. The party moved in ready to charge but found the main hall to be empty.

Unlike the cold November north wind from outside, it was quite musky inside; kind of made you think that underneath the house there was an open gateway to hell.

There was no electricity, the chandeliers over head rocked back and forth emitting a screechy cringing noise casting shadows against the walls. The hall had two floors; the second floor was covered with picture frames barely visible in the dim light. The windows around the room were covered with thin curtains making it possible for the moonlight to enter. It would have been a nice place if they weren't dealing with it in this situation. Dante made his way to the center of the hall, guns at hand, sniffing the air here and there, and turned to the girls with an air of irritation.

"This looks like a damn base if you ask me."

"A base? Why would they lure us into their base?"

"Quite simple, actually." Said a voice from over head, all eyes turned to the stairs where the top landing was showered with darkness, the girls were squinting their eyes trying to make out at least an outline as the Trio made their way downstairs slowly stopping half way where the moonlight hit them.

They were dressed quite nicely, their cloaks were new, they almost seemed like battle suits yet no armor was visible. Their fluttering coats restled about gently as they walked down the stairs all with the same foot and with the same deadly stare. They came to an abrupt stop and took their own pose- like some boy band or something.

Past popped his collar coolly and winked at the girls with a smirk, "We wanted to make sure you 'ladies' felt comfy."

There was a short pause where the two adversaries starred at each other coldly hiding their surprise until Arith broke the silence coldly.

"'Comfy'? What a dumbass dude, the most immature shit from hell." And she laughed out loud starring at Past whom starring back was angrily not enjoying the fact he was being mocked.

"Shut up bitch!" He called out with attitude.

"You want to see a bitch; I'll give you a bitch, faggot."

Before Past could lunge at Arith Future held onto him giving him an impatient stare, the party except for Vergil actually laughed at this. At once, Future got his cool back and looked down at them holding out his hand in peace. "Why the hostility, we merely invited you to our home by the goodness of our hearts."

"And what exactly happened to the old folks that ACTUALLY live here?" Ayame asked a bit nervously yet she regretted having had asked as the three boys took a long swiff of the air and laughed evilly, they were burning them alive! At once the four girls moved forward angrily making a line without knowing, the streaks in their hair now visible and their eyes now their definite color, Sprout and Griffin in front of them, Dante and Vergil made up the rear. Future looked down at them mockingly and tilted his head, his eyes lying on Aranell.

"There's something different about you…"

"Stop messing around Future, you aren't going to get away from us this time." Aranell spoke out coldly holding her two short swords in place- those eyes, thought Future, she was really angry… at him.

He lifted his gloved right hand, his eyes glowing gently in the dark still fixed on Aranell's deadly glance. He snapped his fingers. From either sides of the hall Vanguards began to appear howling their horrible screeches and flipping their scythes ready to charge, the gang turned to the Trio whom were making their way back up the stairs, only future remained on the stairs looking at the scene, sadness in his eyes, his red eyes showed malice though. Dante had all ready began shooting at the Vanguards and called out briskly behind him as a scythe came flying across the room and landing few feet away.

"Don't let them escape; I'll take care of this, make sure you don't let them start their ritual!" A vanguard came flying beside him and he quickly jumped in order to deliver a bullet directly into its face before taking out his sword and slicing it in two. Behind him, Vergil was also slashing here and there turning only briefly to the girls.

"GO, we'll catch up!"

"Shit, don't have to tell me twice." Arith turned and began running up the stairs stretching out her hand as it glowed red, "Eat it Future!" a small fireball formed on her palm and she threw it barely missing him by inches, It brought him back to reality. The girls ran upstairs as he disappeared into the door on the top floor. As they reached the door, he slammed it shut. Ayame quickly opened it and let the way inside only to find they were in some outside garden with high walls. Everything was dead and there was no sign of the Trio.

"What the fu-"

"It's like teleporting." Ayame interrupted looking around them to see that there was no door instead a solid brick wall. There were three colored spheres etched into the wall glowing ominously, until they finally went out. On five different points of the garden five bird spheres appeared all glowing a different colored and reflecting a different room. On the floor, a walkway was being lighted in a way that it formed a star- creepy.

The girls moved about the garden looking into the spheres trying to decipher what they were meant for, Ayame still stood beside the three spheres at the wall biting her lower lip and thinking.

"Look!" Aranell called out rounding the girls to a sphere glowing blue, it showed an opening to a cave, probably underground from the looks of it, and Past was lurking around it before entering it sneakily. "Come on let's go!"

"No, it could be a trap." Ayame countered earnest fully walking to another sphere, Kimni followed her to two more spheres before they caught site of Present, this time walking down a hallway looking into different doors- this made no sense, they were all separated.

"Come on Ayame, they are going to get away!" Arith and Aranell moved their hands towards the sphere but Ayame stopped them by threatening them.

"Those three spheres are a lock; obviously they knew we'd eventually get separated from Dante and Vergil. The spheres are obviously teleporters or something because that can explain how Future got away so quickly. He probably sped up in order to get out of here. The point is I've played to many video games, seen to many movies to conclude that this looks like a trap. I hope we're smart enough to catch it before any of us gets hurt." She said the last think a bit worried, she took off her glasses in order to clean them. Kimni turned to the sphere and saw that Present had disappeared, probably into a door…

"It would be best if we split up, by two's." She said bravely. "Ayame and I will take down Present."

"Past is fine with us." Aranell replied mockingly turning to give Arith a ghetto handshake, Arith was ecstatic at the up coming mission.

"Oh man, we're like Sailor Scouts and shit! Dante's Tuxedo Mask! This is awesome!"

"I rather refer this to Final Fantasy but, meh, I'm Venus though."

"Concentrate you people!" Ayame interrupted motioning for them all o go to their spheres. "All right, so we all know what we're going to do, right-"

"Seek and destroy!" Arith called out happily, she's always wanted to say that and actually mean it. Ayame nodded and sighed nervously.

"All right, off we go and try not to die. And, err, god luck."

"Word, Ayame, you two take care of yourselves."

"If you get into trouble," Kimni added, "Go to the main hall- that will be our rendezvous point."

Right when everyone was ready, Arith ran to both Ayame and Kimni and hugged them in turn before running back to her spot. "Okay, now if I die, I won't feel bad."

There was a nervous laughter and finally they all accepted their fate. Slowly the girls reached into the spheres, its surface was actually penetrable. The second their hands made contact with it a cold sensation covered them followed by numbness. The girls looked at each other as they finally dissolved into nothing disappearing into the sphere.

"That's the last of them." Dante spoke coolly moving his sword from a pile of dust in front of him and looked around with the ecstasy of battle still running through his veins, Vergil, a few feet from him, was sheathing his sword starring up at the stairs nervously. Dante walked to him patting his back almost in a fond way, "Just like old times, eh?" He mocked following his brothers gaze to the landing upstairs, the devil frowned.

"Something tells me these imbeciles are going to underestimate them." Vergil announced gravely, he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach; Dante eyed him sideways lifting up his gun and tapping it smartly on his shoulder.

"If they do, I'll make sure the girls don't- "

"Don't you find it odd that they would summon the girls here knowing they aren't ready?"

"Hey, I thought you said-"

"DANTE!" Vergil called impatiently looking at him in irritation of his hypocrisy, he motioned him to look around emphasizing that the girls weren't present; this made Dante shrug in self disgust.

"Look, I get it okay?"

"The problem with you is-"

"My problem is they're just girls!" Dante interrupted angrily confronting his brother. By the look in his eyes, Vergil seemed to disagree with Dante's reasoning but fell silent shifting his weight to his other foot and crossed his arms in front of his chest nodding for him to continue.

"I don't mean it in some patty cake way."

A long pause.

"Patty… cake?"

"Yeah," Dante scratched the back of his head with his gun frustrated. "You know, that fancy word they use meaning men control-"

"Patriarchal." Vergil suggested losing his nerve at his ignorance.

"There you go. Damnit, anyway, I don't mean it like that. Girls are capable of doing everything guys can, it's just…" He went silent for a minute; it seemed the two men were pondering on their own individual say. It felt like an eternity as they stood, forgetting the heat and stench around them.

"The other day, Aranell and Arith almost got in a fight because they didn't agree on the proper age of dating boys, one said 15 and the other said like 20; and you know who said twenty. Then I caught Ayame trying to find some money in order to buy a playstation, do you see, a playstation. And then Kimni…"

"She's different." Vergil added positively keeping his eyes on Dante seeing the different emotions passing through his face as he spoke, it always struck Vergil odd how Dante couldn't let go of the fact Felicia was dead yet in his case, Marie's death seemed insignificant. Was she really insignificant enough to have forgotten her so easily? Dante was looking at Vergil now seeing his eyes glazing over in thought; he frowned and spoke coldly once more.

"I think it's a bit late to start feeling guilty Vergil."

The both men looked at each other coldly, yet Vergil was caught off guard, Dante still believed it was him that killed them, all those years ago. He cleared out his throat and looked equally defiant at Dante as he was giving him, "Don't blame me if you failed your lover so horribly."

"Don't you dare throw me the bomb Vergil, I actually thought you'd change, you were the worst thing to happen to Marie you know."

Vergil couldn't respond to this, he couldn't lie because he didn't know what he felt. Did he really love her or did he use her? Had he hidden his human emotions to the point where he no longer could feel, love, or cherish like a human? One thing was certain, he didn't wallow in self pity nor did he hide behind hypocrisy- Dante was full of it. He finally spoke after a long pause.

"I consider you selfish."

"Oh yeah, and why is that?" He held his two guns now as if pushing him to say something that would make him use them, Vergil was not moved by his hostile gestures.

"You always seem to be looking out for them yet you lack faith in them. You never gave them a chance to be who they are, especially Kimni…"

"What the hell is that suppose to mean."

"Look where we are, they could be getting themselves killed and all you can think about is some girl who lived ages ago. This is the time now, Dante. I know, believe me I know the pain of it all. Why would I destroy the woman I loved, the one I gave everything too, and she in return? You're selfish to think you were the only one hurt."

Now it was Dante's turn to go quiet. Another short silence.

"I think the Trio is getting more then they bargained for." Dante finally said defeated coming back to the matter at hand, they were wasting time just because of him. "These demons weren't just a walk in the park."

Vergil nodded at this and once more looked up the stairs; something told him there wasn't any door up there. Dante was all ready walking up the steps but stopped abruptly once he reached the top landing… there was no door on the wall. He punched the wall sending pieces of it flying about, Vergil frowned solemnly. "They are just girls"

It was unfair- just as unfair as when their mother was killed and father destroyed- those girls have a whole life to live, was this all worth it? Vergil didn't exactly believe they'd get killed; they were smart enough to know when to run away. What would happen in the long run, they were different, living different lives but still held the same curse-

"Whether this is a trap or not I'm sure the Trio has no idea of the calamity these girls could cause just if one of them dies. Move quickly, look for Ayame and Kimni, I'll take care of the other girls." Vergil spoke in a business like matter as he walked towards a door on the right of the main hall, Dante turned to him angrily.

"So that's it then." He called out spitting beside him in disgust towards Vergil's name, how he could act so coldly, honestly. "You up for it or are you going to leave in the middle of the fight- oh wait, it's 'for Marie' isn't it?"

"No." Vergil spoke automatically his hand on the doorknob feeling the burn on the back of his head where Dante was scrutinizing him, probably in disbelief. "It's for Arith…" his grip on the doorknob tightened, "For Aranell, Ayame, and Kimni. For those girls we condemned the moment we brought hem into this mess, who take the responsibly bravely as a duty- if only they knew everything." This made him smile; he enjoyed watching Arith's frightened face every time they mentioned they had been lovers.

With that said Vergil left through the door leaving Dante fuming about what he had said, Damnit, he always had something smart and witty to say. The devil made his way to the opposite side taking hold of the doorknob as if his destiny lied behind it.

"Fucking Vergil, you always know how to make a man feel bad."

Kimni and Ayame weren't making much progress as they walked from door to door searching for Past. It was actually harder then they had expected the whole damn hall was composed of doors! The whole rage to kill something had vanished in the girls, there was only this damp depressing feeling that there was no way out.

They had started from one end of the hallway and had been making their way up towards the other end yet no door seemed to let any hope of ever finding Past. Sprout had even taking to helping the girls at this task he found to be some sort of game. There he went, hopping here and there to doors and opening them so dramatically that he would start hopping up and down wiggling his tentacles as if frightening the invisible boogey man on the other side, and you couldn't blame the other girls for feeling irritated. Kimni was closing a door to a bedroom when she finally turned around to Ayame defeated.

"I give up; we're never going to find the jerk!" She cried desperately turning to Sprout who was jumping about the entrance to a door making evil gurgling noises trying to scare the invisible ghost. "Damn it, stop it!" Kimni called out angrily, at once Sprout moved away from the door closing it shut sadly, the poor thing didn't even let out a squeak.

"Aww, come on Kimni, it was having fun." Ayame stated mockingly looking at Sprout who was now just sitting there gloomily on the floor, its big watery eyes fixed on Kimni making her see he was sorry. "Look, you made him emo!"

It was really hard not to apologies to the poor plant thing on the floor. Kimni took it up in her arms and whispered her apologies; it quickly wrapped itself around her in an embracing hug. The girls went on with their task. Ayame was going from door to door expecting them to open by themselves or even hear noises from the back- that's when they heard it, someone was trying to open a door.

The two girls made their way to a door down the hall; the handle was shaking violently as the intruder failed to open it. Ayame looked at Kimni a bit worried and brought her sword delicately out of her sheath not exactly wanting to use it, Kimni took out her weapons and Sprout jumped to the floor making him self smaller then usual ready to pounce.

"Ready? This is it." Ayame whispered nervously. The two girls starred at the door as a familiar voice echoed out followed by a hard thump.

"Son of a bitch, you fucking door, why don't you open up!

Kimni looked at Ayame shocked. "Dante?"

"Oh, so now you don't want to give me some loving eh? How about you eat this!"

The next minute, the girls were running on opposite directions as bullets came flying through the door and Dante barged inside kicking the door and shooting it into pieces. He stepped on it and smirked shooting it one more time before looking around. "That's the way I like to see you, on the bottom!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS YOU'RE PROBLEM!" The girls barked shaking with rage not exactly better from their mini heart attack they had received from the fright. Dante, whom was proud of having finished his mission of finding the girls, put his guns back in their holsters and grinned surprised.

"So, you're still alive, awesome!"

Both Ayame and Kimni took this as an insult- did he actually think they were weak enough to make it this far? Without another word Dante began looking around the hall whistling at the exaggerated amount of doors along the hallway. Ayame glared around feeling defeated and sighed heavily not exactly wanting to ask help from Dante after his little comment from before.

"Hey Dante, we're stuck. We checked every single one of these doors." Protested Kimni slamming on door with her fists as if that would make some special mechanism work- it didn't.

Dante moved about and starred at all the doors in turn before finally saying something.

"What door did you come in from?"

"Err, good question. This one I think." Ayame opened it and at that instant, present brought his fist to her face making her topple backwards.

"Darn, you found me!" He mocked cheerfully moving into the hallway. Both Kimni and Dante starred keeping their weapons out, Sprout had disappeared into the ground.

"Well, like the place, awesome right?"

"Shut up and die. No time for slowness if you catch my drift." Dante began to shoot and at once Demons appeared out of the blue covering Past from the bullets. Kimni growled angrily looking around at the floor.

"Any time now Sprout."

At that instant, the ground began to crumble beneath Present as it began to disappear; he jumped forward and kicked Dante out of the way in order to not fall into the abyss below. Sprouts vines appeared around the edges keeping himself from falling. Ayame moved over to Present and began attacking him; her sword never exactly cut him or anything. They all finally moved back gasping.

"This place is too small for my likening." Dante mumbled as he refrained from using his sword. Ayame starred at the ground and smirked. "We need to make him fall."

"No shit, Ayame, what took you so long." Kimni smirked as the two turned to look at present. "You ready?"

"It's going to hurt?"

"No, sprout says he'll get us down safe."

"All right babe, if you say so."

The three came rushing like bulls towards Present and finally toppled him over the edge as they disappeared into nothingness.

"Oh shit, oh shit!"

There was a loud pounding noise from the other side of the wall mixed with the horrible noise of bones breaking where the bats were crashing by the dozens as if expecting it o crack open and reveal he intruders on the other side, Arith and Aranell had found refuge behind a wall the minute they saw those bats coming their way.

Past was a sneaky son- of- a- bitch, not only had he lured the girls into a trap but my goodness! In the back of the hall they were in, there were a few human like demons- vampires guarding the door. The girls couldn't advance without being attacked by anything else but them. Thus, here they were, waiting for the bats to finishing crashing into the wall before going into the battlefield.

"Yo chick, you run for it, I'll go for the bats, okay?" Arith called over the noise and turned to look at Aranell through the dimly lit light. Aranell, in response brought up her short swords and nodded, this made Arith grin as she started hopping on her tiptoes anxiously waiting for the massacre they were planning on. The fluttering and pounding were ceasing slowly and the girls looked at each other with a grin.

"You go out first Arith, make sure not to get hurt, who knows what diseases those vampire people have." Aranell warned seriously slightly shuddering at the idea of getting bit by one of them. They weren't exactly the pretty vampire's that always came out in the movies; these were ugly blood sucking fiends. Their skin color varied and the condition of their skin –whether it was rotting or not- was also an issue and lastly they threw bats at you by the dozens. They had been attacked ones but amazingly they didn't get hurt… well, Arith caught herself on fire and killed them involuntarily and Aranell only got a ruined coat. This time, they were going to go out and give them a piece of their mind. The pounding stopped and the girls grinned giving each other the signal, it was their time to shine. Arith quickly moved out and went walking in a steady pace towards the other side of the room, not caring about the bats bodies she was stepping on. Her steps were muffled and here and there you would hear a loud crack. Every time this happened the demons shrieked in rage. There were 7 demons guarding one door, their contorted shrieks vibrated the anger of seeing one alive.

"Calm like a bomb…" Arith whispered, her red eyes looking at each of the demons in turn seeing they were about to attack. The staff in her hands felt heavy once more but she dismissed the feeling of panic, she had to be calm like a bomb. As the song rolled through her head (Rage against the Machines) the demons lifted their hands up and at once they attacked with hordes of bats enveloped in a dark ominous cloud came ragging towards Arith.

"IGNITE!"

It was a beautiful sight. The girl had brought her hands together where a spark ignited between them, then she separated them making like a barrier in front of her attacking the bats as they came into close range of the fire. There was no longer any debris from this attack, everything was being burned. Aranell, hearing the sound of flame, came out quickly and ran over to the demons hesitating slightly as one of them turned, canceling his portion of bats towards Arith, and moved to Aranell who was holding her long swords menacingly. See, this was the hard part.

How can you kill someone when in your entire life killing was a sin? Okay, so these are demons- still, it never says killing demons is a favor for God. How can murders kill so easily when here, although their in the peek of this moment, it's madness to think of ones sword piercing into the chest of the enemy…

The demon came advancing towards Aranell, its white eyes glowing as it gave a huge leap arriving in front of the girl before she could take another step. Aranell quickly took her two double swords and blocked the attacks the vampire was attacking with. A set of short swords had extracted from their wrists so that now both fighters were equally matched.

The demon sent a quick lower cut and Aranell quickly moved to blocking it and sent her other sword piercing into the demons side, something she didn't think was going to happen. At once the demon dissolved into sand and fell across the floor over the rest of the bat corpses. The demons that were attacking Arith stopped as they all turned to Aranell and her sword dripping with black demon blood their angry shrieks made the girls ears curl.

"Dang Aranell, talk about a fast kill chick." Arith said slightly uneasily sticking beside Aranell at the moment and frowned. "How about we send in reinforcements?"

The demons, all at once, went charging against the girls but before they could reach them Griffin had come running between them and jumped into the air a barrier of some sort pushed the vamps off away. Griffin grew, almost to the height of some horse and attacked sending what seemed to be lightning through his mouth at the enemies. Arith and Aranell took this time to flee the scene knowing Griffin could handle those good for nothing sons of-

"Get in quick!" Aranell shouted as she began to run towards the door that was now unguarded. The two girls made their way to it at full speed and didn't stop to turn around, the last thing heard was Aranell shouting orders at Griffin as they shut the door behind them- it sealed shut with a loud echoing click.

The new hallway was much more quiet then the last chamber and there were no lights on but a single candle ahead in the distance, this worried the girls as they took a few steps forward.

"Doesn't this remind you of when people die and you're not suppose to follow the light?" Aranell said in a hushed whisper not blinking as she starred at the candle as if by not looking at it she might die. Arith followed suit nodding nervously as she took a firm grip of her staff. "When we catch this son of a bitch I am going to stick my staff up his-"

"AAAAAAHHH!"

Arith came crashing to the floor as Aranell held onto her arm for dear life not daring to look beneath her at the endless abyss which probably led to hell itself. Arith was fumbling in order to bring her back up and around her blue fames appeared- they fell into a trap!

"Chick, hold on!" Arith called out putting her weight on her knees helping Aranell up, the smell of rot came up from this abyss filling up the room with the stench and the heat of death, and the girls were trying not to gag. Arith finally succeeded in bringing Aranell back up after a gush of wind came falling through the whole making the candle in the end of the hall flicker. This was strange, the only unchanging thing was that candle. Arith gave Aranell a stern look as they both ran for it hearing the floor grind and eventually disappear behind them.

"We can't make it Arith!" Aranell called out turning to look behind her, it was gaining on them, it was no use trying to quicken their pace they would fall eventually. Finally they felt it, the ground disappears beneath their feet, it was no use screaming, the rush of wind and the roaring of the flames beneath them took over the room. Arith stretched out her hand in an attempt to save them. Her hand flickered and a get of fire went flying from her palm to the candle toppling it over and extinguishing the flame- the girls crashed onto the floor.

"I want to go home. I'm starting to think Med High wasn't so bad, you know?" Aranell said in a hushed voice as she lifted her head trying to snap back at reality, Arith was all ready at her feet and screaming at the fallen candle on the floor.

"What! You thought you could mess with me, with me? Shit, think again fool! You got you're ass whooped by a chick!" She shouted throwing ghetto hand gestures at the defenseless candle on the floor, Aranell let her rant on as she stood up.

"But oh no, nobody listens to me cause I'm Mexican, cause I'm a chick and because I'm ugly as hell. Well I'm going to tell you something you immature piece of….err… whatever earthly material wax is made out of, I am multi racial. That's right I said it." The girl began dancing over the melted wax until she finally tripped and fell flat on her back. Aranell walked towards her with a grin on her face and nodded, "You go Arith, and you showed that candle."

There was a small moment where they both actually thought about how close they were of dying, Arith grinned proudly.

"Take note Aranell, we've cheated death once, I'm sure he's pretty ticked off now so he'll try a bit harder."

"Please…" Aranell said lifting her short swords and nodding, "Past got nothing on us now."

"Oh really you little prick?"

An invisible hand came hitting Aranell squarely on the chest and sent her flying across the room and smashing into the wall. Past then moved quickly and pinned Arith to the wall making sure to keep a firm grip on her neck as he turned to look at Aranell whom was gasping for breath not being able to get up. Past grinned.

"So, you didn't fall into my trap thanks to this bitch…" he eyes Arith disgusted ignoring the gagging noises coming from her. "Well," he smashed Arith into the ground placing his foot on her stomach so she wouldn't get up. "You're just going to have to burn like all the rest of the people in this joint."

"You won't…. get away… with this Past. Let her go!" Aranell stretched out her hand as a visible white spiral came flying quickly towards Past, he didn't move and it brushed his cheek barely, the orange headed boy laughed mockingly.

"So Future has a thing for a nobody with a terrible aim, what a-"

Arith was laughing weakly now being able to breathe correctly as Past moved his gloved hand to his cheek, he was bleeding. That spiral was sharp, but how! Arith took this time to act and placed her hand on his leg burning it up, he shocked and moved away. Arith rolled sideways and sat up, her hand over her stomach, and glared vengefully at Past. "You aren't getting away this time you basterd, you're going to burn in hell for all the shit you've done."

Past laughed at this and both girls stood together ready to attack him, this was serious business. Past paced slightly considering they were still in a hallway, and pointed at them.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU WANTS TO DIE FIRST?"

At that moment, from the ground in front of him, vanguards appeared; their echoing shrieks made the girls cringe backward. There was a minute where they all disappeared- everything was silent. Past was starring at them mockingly seeing what they would do but Arith knew better. She looked around and starred at the wall beside them as a dark blue vortex appeared.

"Oh crap, run!"

She took hold of Aranell's arm and pulled her backwards running back as a vanguard appeared from the vortex and went slashing away disappearing into the other wall. There was vortex's everywhere! They were halfway through the corridor when Arith noticed that the floor in front of them was becoming one of the vortexes too, both girls came to halt as they fell back a few inches from the vortex. The girls both closed their eyes as the shriek from the vanguard came- it turned into a gag.

"Vergil!"

Vergil was holding his sword like a cane in front of him as the vanguard appeared and sliced it in two. Vortex's appeared on either side of him and he quickly took out the two vanguards that appeared with one fast sweeping motion- the devil sheathed his sword.

"What? How did you get here?" Past shouted angrily taking a step back in confused horror, Vergil walked over the girls and stood there starring at Past blankly.

"I used the stairs."

"Don't give me that bullshit, Vergil. I'm not playing games here." Past called out angrily fixing his gloves impatiently. Vergil was unconvinced, he took a few more steps forward, and both Arith and Aranell were now standing and looking at Vergil.

"So, you opened a gate to hell on these premises… tell me, what did it cost you? Or better yet, what did you get in return?"

"I don't think so, half demon; you won't trick us this time. I'll kill you along with these bitches."

Arith and Aranell walked forward about to attack as a vanguard appeared and took a swish at their heads, both girls dodged. Aranell brought her short swords towards the vanguard but only ripped of pieces of cloth, she growled. "I thought we were finished with these peeps…"

"I guess not, huh." Arith turned to Vergil who was still standing there looking at Past as if trying to read his thoughts, what was going to be their next move?

"Arith." Vergil called behind him not turning. "What do you say to some seek and destroy?" He turned his head slightly at this and Past took this time to run for it. Aranell starred and began running towards Past. "Come on he's getting away!"

"Stop Aranell, we need Griffin." Vergil interrupted stopping both Arith and herself from running farther than him. "Arith and I will corner him, the only true damage you can give the trio is your beast's, I'm sorry to say that you're powers alone aren't yet enough."

"Don't worry, we get the point." Arith sighed gently, eying Aranell and stood up straight nodding. "We can do it. Aranell won't take long; Griffin is just on the other side of that door."

"So do we agree?"

"All right, I'll catch up then. Be careful you two. If I see any of the others by chance, I'll lead them this way, okay?"

The three nodded and Aranell was off leaving Arith and Vergil alone in the hallway, she turned nervously and smiled weakly at him nodding for him to continue, he did. The next room was actually a huge room, probably like a lecture room. The two made their way through the rows of seats without a word until Arith fell into the glow of some red light coming from above. She turned her head towards it and gasped, it was like a marking of some sort with flames dancing about it-

"Oh my God…"

Vergil turned to her horrified face and looked up to see what was catching her attention. It was a crucifix caught on fire. So this room was a chapel after all… Arith starred at the cross in horror and finally was able to rip her yes from it giving Vergil a confused look.

"Past, like the rest of the trio, is leading us to the opening to hell."

"WHAT THE-"

"By nature, humans cannot survive such a close distance; hence all the old folk in this nursery home have gone." He interrupted quickly and spoke coolly never ripping his eyes of her in order to keep her attention on him and not on the cross.

"Gone where?" Arith whispered quietly turning to the cross again as a piece of something fell to the floor a few rows ahead of them, she knew very well where they all had gone.

"Being to close to damnation, even this holy ground is affected. You must not fear evil, Arith; you must make evil fear you. That is the only way you can survive a battle between evil." His voice was now calm and soothing for once, those icy blue eyes of him lost in a memory that was triggered by seeing her under the orange glow of the flames. Her eyes starred determinedly up at it as if vowing her vengeance upon what ever force had done such an atrocity- there was visible pain in her features. The girl finally moved on moving out of the spotlight of fire and walked beside Vergil keeping her eyes firmly in front of her.

"Please tell me we're not going to hell, will I die if I step foot in there?" the girl asked nervously.

"Technically you wouldn't. You are fire itself, it's impossible to burn in a pit for you." He said this with a proud grin. "I'll be a bit more worried about Aranell and Ayame, fire, to a certain extent, can be an enemy."

"That's why you told her to leave, right?"

Vergil turned his head to look at her and nodded truthfully, this made her feel more at ease. "At least if I die, they'll be okay."

"You won't die, Arith. Trust me."

"Oh sure, what would you know…"

"I for one lived in hell longer than any being in this place. I will not let you get to close nor be taken in by the demons that mostly always guard an opening. Also, I hope that you trust me on this one when I say…" he hesitated slightly on this and paused a long time before he spoke. "Your life is more important then actually killing the trio. If I see you in danger at anytime, I'm getting you out of there, whether you like it or not."

There went Arith with her pale cheeks changing into a dark red as they kept walking to the other side of the chapel where a door led into another hall- the devil became aware they were being watched. He quickly took Arith by her arm and led her forward expecting something like a pendulum to fall from the dark ceiling and slice them in two. What came next, he was not expecting.

The floor beneath them disappeared and they went plummeting into a dark abyss before they could do anything. Arith's scream was pretty much droned out by the roaring wind around them and Vergil took a hold of her, she held onto him screaming out in desperation. "I don't want to die, not right now!"

"You aren't going to die, Arith!"

"What the hell are you talking about white boy! I'm going to burn alive in hell!"

Vergil looked below them and saw they had appeared in what was some kind of underground cavern- or was it?

There was a small stream that ran through the middle of the hall where they were falling to and Past stood a few feet away from where they were to fall. Arith held onto Vergil shrieking in exasperation as they fell.

"We're going to die, I love you white boy!"

The roaring sound of the air rushing around them stopped yet there was still a hollow sound ringing in her ears as Arith opened her eyes slowly. She was still holding onto Vergil tightly around his neck and she realized she was touching the ground. With a long and exhausted exhale, she let her self fall backward in relief and anger at what had just happened.

"Wow… we're alive…" She said not exactly realizing Vergil was practically over her. He starred down at her and then turned his attention to Past whom was starring at the two coldly; his eyes fell on Arith primarily seeing her like a damsel in distress.

"So the feisty pixie survived… you bastard, she was my kill…" He growled angrily walking towards them in a slow steady pace. Arith snapped back to reality when she heard his voice and realized in the…'awkward position' she found herself. With a few punches and shoves, Vergil and Arith stood up, ignoring each others eyes as Past approached.

"You really did it now, faggot. That's the second time you try to kill me." Arith called out popping her fingers and rubbing them together- mainly to try and ease the shakiness she felt. Past glared at her as if heartbroken. "Two times, and you were able to survive. Do you know what that means?" He shouted fixing himself up ready to attack.

"It means," interrupted Vergil as he held onto the handle of his sword seeing that Past was about to attack. "That because of your stupidity, you are unable to formulate a successful plan to kill her."

Arith giggled slightly at this and Past just starred at him in a sad and confused way.

"Yeah… well…" And past attacked, his first victim was Arith but she was ready. Her staff was in her hand and she blocked his sword with ease and smirked in his face enjoying his look of surprise. He moved back but Vergil was there to take him out, Past had no other choice but to do what he could do best- cheat.

As Vergil came about to slice his head off, it seemed like forever for Vergil to move. Past was moving normally and so was Arith but not Vergil.

"What in the…" Arith gasped in shock starring at Vergil as he targeted an invisible enemy in slow motion, Past took this time to attack her. He kicked her in the stomach and brought her to her knees before him cracking like a cynic in laughter. He moved his sword over to where her neck was.

"Now, now, how should I kill you, eh? Should I bleed you to death, make it quick and painless or-"

Arith got up and kicked him where it hurt (she never follows fighting etiquette) but Past had all ready been anticipating such a desperate move from her and he finally punched her on her chest and tripped her in order to slam her painfully on the ground.

"I see, you like it rough then you little whore."

"Gatcho… I am going to castrate you and sell your 'businesses on the black market bitch." She gagged as he began to choke her with his foot, Past just smirked raising his hand which was glowing orange.

"Yeh, been there, done that." He pointed down at her and his hand pulsed ready to fire, what it was e intended to do was unclear as Vergil came back into the picture. He had somehow found a way around it and came back into reality. A summoning sword had missed Past's leg by inches and that made Past jump. He turned to look at him and growled.

"Hey, I saw her first buddy, you wait your turn."

"A man who treats woman impolitely deserves only one thing." Vergil spoke sarcastically, a small grin forming over his lips. Past starred at him confused and turned to look at Arith, she was now standing beside him with her own hands glowing red.

"A bitch slap to the face!" Arith kicked him and made him topple backwards. She then got her staff and brought it down hard on his stomach making him jerk violently and growl in pain. Vergil moved over to where she was now with her own boot crunching down on his chest grinning with a malicious content. This seemed to lighten his mood.

"Speak. What did you do to this place?" The devil spoke threateningly holding his sword near Past's trembling cheek. Past was more concerned with the cheating going on.

"This isn't fair, 2 against one-"

"Hey idiot," Arith leaned forward on her leg and grinned at the growling coming from Past, "He asked you a damn question!"

"Nothing happened to it, all right!"

"Where are all the people then?"

"How the hell am I- gah!" Arith poked him with her staff around the ribs and beckoned him to stop lying.

"They're safe, okay? We made an illusion of this place! We…" Past sighed looking up at the ceiling as it was showered darkness. "We can control everything…" A grin appeared over his lips as a low rumbling noise came from above them. The other two looked up and gasped as huge boulders began to fall towards them.

"Run!" Vergil growled grabbing hold of Arith in order to pull her away from the danger site but Past was already ahead of them. He first immobilized Vergil once more in order for his movements to slow down and then moved to Arith to whom the changing of time had no effect on. He tackled her to the ground and pinned her down looking up at the ceiling anticipating when the boulders would reach the ground. Arith was squirming and raging in fear punching and kicking in order to get Past off her.

"Get off you pervert, get off!"

But it was too late. She saw the boulders right above Past's head, everything was going dark due to the lack of light and the last thing she saw was Past's manic grin as he disappeared from above her- the two were buried in boulders. Past appeared a few feet away from the pile and laughed in triumph jumping around here and there in their memory.

"Who's the man? I'M THE MAN BIOTCH! OH TWO BIRDS WITH THE SAME DAMN STONE…. LITTERALLY!" He couldn't believe it. Just the night before, Future had been making such a big fuss about how important it was to make sure those guardian were killed- no exceptions. The boss had been making up all these different ways to kill them as if they were invincible. Surely, Future didn't know what the heck he was talking about or Arith wouldn't have gone down so easily. And not only had the damn feisty pixie been damned to hell, the devil boy Vergil had finally found 'peace'… hell is more then he deserves. There was no point in staying here any longer, He would have to go back and give Future the news, something he was gladly looking forward to when the pile of rubble began to shudder. Past turned to it and starred in horror.

"It can't be…"

Vergil's loud echoing roar filled up the cavern making everything shake, even Past was shaken a bit to see an actual Devil Trigger. Vergil was breathing heavily and he turned his head towards the side where he had last seen Arith- there was no way anyone could survive such a hit especially if you're human.

"ARITH!" He growled as he ran towards the pile of rubble throwing boulder after boulder of the pile not wanting to continue yet he had to make sure. He was paying no attention to Past who was still standing there shocked seeing him rise from the dead.

That's impossible, he thought tightening his fist, I killed him under that pile… was Future right, are they that hard to kill? Thoughts were running through his head as he kept staring at Vergil throwing boulders and rocks here and there- what if Arith was alive? He had to make sure that at least she was dead. With this new wave of fury, he charged forward towards Vergil taking out his sword and throwing it at him.

"Turn around when I talk to you!" He shouted as the sword went swiftly at Vergil, but he was too aware now to let his guard down. The devil turned around and caught the sword starring at it mercilessly, his bright blue eyes rising to look at him. He bared his teeth and threw the sword back, along with a few summoning swords before he returned to the task at hand. He knew what would happen if one o them died- chaos. And Dante, he would surely come and blame Vergil for not protecting her… but that's not the point or is it?

From somewhere above, shrieking and laughing were heard and this bothered Vergil even more. He was in a very vulnerable position- that's when he saw it. At the bottom, covered with in some places, was a hand, pale and cold. The devil stopped and starred at it for a few minutes trying to come up with the possibilities she was still alive. From above Vergil, familiar voices came about and Dante's face appeared over the edge on the boulder on top. The minute he saw that Vergil was in devil trigger he assumed the worst and jumped down to see what he was starring at. The girls were slowly making their way down from the pile of rubble still shaken from the fall, Talon and Sprout were still on the top of the pile looking at the stones.

"Come on you two! Oh wait, who the heck is that!" Called Ayame as she pointed at Past who was still deflecting summoning swords and finally slowed them down as he caught sight of the whole gang. He was definitely outnumbered now!

"Be careful guys, Present is somewhere down here. Keep you're guard up." Emphasized Kimni as she finally reached the solid ground first and starred at Dante and Vergil with their backs to Past.

"Hello! The bad guy is over there!" She pointed taking out her weapons ready to attack. Aranell hit the ground first and soothed her hands as she stood beside Kimni.

"What's wrong with them?"

Ayame finally got down and sighed exhausted starring at everyone and then at Past. It never ends.

Vergil and Dante were still starring at the hand and finally Dante growled taking hold of the rocks and started throwing them away from there, Vergil hesitated and finally tried to stop him.

"NO! I promised her she wouldn't get hurt and look what you've done!" He growled pushing him away as he finally saw her whole arm visible. The girls moved forward to see what was happening and they gasped in horror seeing it.

"Oh my God, ARITH!" They all shouted moving towards her arm and staring at it in the verge of tears. How the hell did this happen? This wasn't right, they weren't supposed to get hurt this bad, or die! Kimni's eyes turned to Vergil who was looking at the arm blankly, you can never really tell with devil trigger in play.

"YOU, YOU KILLED HER!"

"How in the world could I kill her, he did!"

The girls turned to where Past was but now the trio was standing there, hands over their chest as if mourning the death of Arith. Future opened is eyes and caught their glances grinning gently.

"Alas, the almighty decides to take another wretched soul to his kingdom…" Past laughed at this and Present began humming the mourning song as they walked forward. Kimni turned back around and starred at Arith's hand not knowing if to hold it or not. Was she dead? Could she feel, hear? She moved to hold her hand but the minute she touched hear a sizzling sound was heard. Kimni shrieked as Arith's skin burned her and quickly went to soothing the tip of her finger gently.

"Oh, that hurt! What the hell is wrong with her?" She cried out desperately making both Vergil and Dante turn to look at her. Dante touched the rocks and looked about feeling them here and there.

"These rocks are burning too…"

"Come now, who wants to be first to join their friend in hell, hu? Any volunteers?" Future called out as the ground began to shake. From the top of the pile, Talon and Sprout ran down fleeing pushing the group to move away, Kimni starred at the hand which started to twitch violently.

"SHE CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD!"

"SHE'S A FREAKIN ZOMBIE!"

"IS SHE STILL ALIVE, OH MY GOD!"

As they moved away, you could hear Arith's screaming to get whatever it was on her off her because it was hot. Dante and Vergil were speechless and Dante now Devil Triggered not knowing what was going to happen. The trio was also staring at the pile nervously. Had a sacrifice been made? They were this close to hell…

"Future, what the hell is that?" Past called out angrily not waning to admit the possibility that Arith was still alive. Future was speechless. They had made sure to be able to read their enemies moves but this?

The pile began to crumble downward and burst into flames as some sort of fire bird formed and flew off, leaving Arith there alone lying in the middle of a ring of flame- like some crazy cult thing or something. The bird, composed of pure flame, flew about and finally turned to face the trio and attacked sending a shower of fireballs at the trio. They all moved about trying to deflect them and sometimes in vain. The group starred at the fight semi shocked and scared at what just happened when finally Aranell spoke.

"What the hell just happened?"

"Osiris, nickname Iris. That's Arith's summoned beast." Vergil spoke gently and calmly staring up at the magnificent bird. Dante nodded proudly and cheered. "It's a phoenix"

Sprout disappeared into the ground and Talon transformed into the big griffin and began to run in order to aid its comrade. The group ran to where Arith was still lying down starring up at the ceiling with a dazed expression. The girls all fell beside her and took hold of her hands thankfully.

"Arith, are you okay?"

"That shit, was the most painfullist shit in the world dude…" ((Ha-ha, painfullist, you know I'd use that word XD)) Arith groaned as she tried to sit up but Vergil took hold of her and carried her in his arms leaving the girls shocked, even Dante was upset he hadn't thought of that before him.

"Vergil was no longer in Devil trigger now and starred at Arith calmly not exactly knowing if he was to blame of this. Arith just smiled weakly and poked his cheek weakly before collapsing once more out of exhaustion.

"You look better in you're devil trigger…"

Vergil let out a sigh and turned to the trios which were now retreating. The girls all ran after them yet Dante and Vergil stayed at the sidelines with Arith, it was their fight after all. Talon and Sprout retreated as the girls took over but it was too late, the Trio was all ready at the door and Future turned in the last minute enraged.

"You're beasts won't be there to protect you forever, we'll find a way around them!"

"You cheaters!"

And the door closed leaving nothing but a barren wall behind them, this angered the guardians.

"What the hell! All this crap for nothing, no, I am going to kill them right now!" Aranell shouted banging the wall with her fists. Ayame went to her and calmed her down before turning to Arith and the others- she was either asleep or unconscious in Vergil's arms.

"Now what?" Kimni moaned impatiently having barely felt the rush of war and had the yearning to satisfy it. Dante looked at Arith to Vergil to the wall and finally back at the girls.

"Who knows where that door leads to but we definitely got to get Arith out of here…"

"I know where they went." Vergil spoke coldly starring at the wall with vengeance in his eyes.

"Where did they go!" Kimni interrogated bringing her weapons into check ready for battle, this made Vergil wince- was she too driven by revenge?

"The only place they know you all don't know about: The church."

"The church?" Protested Ayame curiously as she bit her bottom lip in thought.

"It's an abandoned building right off main street. They've had their base there for quite a while now."

"Main street, hey! That's pretty close to the DMCA then!" answered Aranell quite excited.

"I get it…" Dante interrupted as he began to pace. "No wonder all the calls of demons have been coming from that section, where that old broken down church is."

"What are we going to do Dante?" Ayame asked plainly knowing for some reason what the answer was going to be.

"What do you think babe! We need to get revenge on those sons of-"

"YEAH, LET'S GO AND KILL THEM!"

"Oh yeah, I'm going too…" Arith had woken up briefly and shot her hand up in the air before holding onto Vergil again as she passed out, the girls starred at her awkwardly even Vergil seemed as if he was blushing.

"All right, we split up into two parties-"

"Again! Honestly, Dante, did you not learn anything from this whole experience? If we split up, someone get's hurt." Aranell stated sadly looking at Arith who now had a smile over her lips, a small trickle of blood on her chin. Dante frowned.

"We can't take Arith, she needs to rest."

"I'll take her."

All eyes turned to Vergil who was standing there with his eyes closed as if praying for the departed in his mouth even though the so called corpse was beginning to make bubbles out of the blood on her lips.

"Bull shit. You got her like that what makes you think I'll trust her with you. You'll finish killing her…"

"I won't. Iris will be watching me."

At that moment, a medium sized bird came and landed on Vergil's shoulder having the same characteristics of a cardinal yet it's tail was long and curled with different shades of glittering colors. The animal moved over beside Vergil and rubbed it's cheek against his making weird twiddling noises.

"I don't want him to go alone." Kimni stated angrily pointing at him accusingly. "I agree with Dante, you should have protected her."

"You told me you were going to protect her!"

"I know. I even promised her I would." Interrupted Vergil sadly and hurtfully- was he acting? "That is why I will take her. If someone dies tonight, it'll be me and besides. You obviously don't need me now do you?"

He began walking turning into his Devil trigger and was about to fly when Dante stopped him by calling at him.

"Stay with her until we arrive. I won't be giving you the keys though."

"Don't worry, I never use you're front door." Vergil assured with mock and leaped into the air disappearing into the darkness with only the shimmer of Iris lighting the way. The group all looked up slightly worried but was quickly brought back by Dante who had begun to run.

"Come on. There's three ways out of this, and no matter how much you want to go with Arith, remember she's counting on us to err…. Avenge her."

"Well said Dante… well said."


	20. Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

For the first time since she found herself in the heart of New Jersey with a new purpose, the feeling of being alone and forgotten was the first thing that hit Arith the second she came back to consciousness. She found herself lying motionless on her bed looking directly at the ceiling. It was showered in darkness so that meant it was night all ready. She was alone with only the pain and the fear that death left embedded in her. _So this is what death feels like?_

The smooth whooshing sound of the of her door opening and closing brought her out of her back into reality, making her realize she wasn't dead. Maybe the others were home? She tried to sit up and found that she couldn't, she was too weak to move.

Oh great, now what?! She was in a very vulnerable position- unable to move and what's worse- alone! How could she defend herself? One thing was for sure, if the person that came in was an enemy, she would have to find a way to fight. After a few seconds, she was startled as an awkward looking bird came and landed on her chest jumping here and there practically excited. That was when Arith couldn't take it anymore; she sat up shrieking at the bird. The bird went flying around in circles until it finally landed on the shoulder of a very familiar person.

"Vergil?!"

Arith gagged quietly before doubling over in pain as Vergil mad his way towards her bed. At seeing her master in pain, the bird flew over to where Arith sat and chirped with an anxious tone. Before she could do anything else, Vergil had brought his hands on Arith's shoulders and was slowly pushing her back on the bed making sure not to force her to much.

"Rest. Your wounds aren't exactly healed."

Arith was reluctant to stay still and pushed Vergil's hands away trying to sit up again.

"No, I need to go look for the others and help them!"

"Are you mad?" Vergil questioned with an irate tone knowing to well what was coming, "There's not much you can accomplish in the state you're in."

"Yes I can, I can do it!"

"Arith stop!"

Her squirming and whining had finally irritated him and forced him to end this dispute by finally pinning her to the bed. Arith winced a few times by the weight he was exerting on her shoulders and glared angrily up at him. It wasn't fair; she had to prove to everyone that she wasn't weak, that all of this was because she was over whelmed. Vergil didn't understand- he was keeping her down. Her eyes turned red as she glared up at Vergil hurt, as if he had sided against her. He looked down at her and couldn't speak- funny how she always had that effect on him.

"You can't go with them, not this time." Vergil found himself hoarsely saying.

"But they need me.."

"I'm pretty sure they can do without you for now, Arith."

That did it. The squirming stopped and the poor girls face fell to a shameful frown. Slightly guilty, Vergil let her go gently and sat on the bed besides her looking at her closely expecting her to cry- but she didn't. Instead, she lifted her bloody hand up gently towards Vergil whom took it hesitantly. He felt uncomfortable as if he was breaking some rule. He didn't like human emotions and Arith was throwing them all on him. It reminded him of a scene so long ago…

"Everything hurts, why am I not dead?"

At this, the strange bird that had scared Arith flew onto Vergil's shoulder and chirped a high welcoming song as it fluffed up proudly.

"Thank her. She did all the work." Vergil insisted as Arith looked at it reproachfully.

"So that's why it hurt." She muttered bitterly as the bird began to chirp angrily while Arith glared at it angrily. "You're just a stupid bird!"

Vergil looked at the two fighting away and couldn't help but realize that he wasn't annoyed. For once, her childish antics weren't frustrating but actually relieving. That's what made Arith who she was- her temper. He sat there for a while listening to the two argue until Arith went silent.

"Stupid bird…" Arith grumbled as Iris jumped up on Vergil's shoulder chirping away angrily at him- he could only understand her frustration by deduction.

"You know Arith, Iris isn't just a bird. She's a phoenix." He stated smartly as he brought his hand up to stroke the phoenix gently.

"Hu?! A phoenix?!" Arith shrieked as she tried to sit up but found it in vain and only received a surge of pain that brought her collapsing on the bed once more. Iris took it upon herself and fluttered down to make sure she was all right. Vergil on the other hand saw that he had caught the girl's attention and gently leaned over in order to catch her eyes.

"Yes a phoenix. She holds healing properties that therefore helped you survive the crushing. She's also very ancient, proper, and wise." He continued as Iris puffed up in pride ignoring the blank look Arith was giving it. "You should always consult her if you find yourself in need of guidance."

"Yeah right…" Arith protested angrily starring at the ceiling as Iris slowly made her way towards Arith's chest. "She's just a bird… but I'll give it to you though….thanks."

It was as if the two understood each other with a glance as Iris slowly and shyly made her way closer to Arith's face until she was inches away. The girl smiled friendly as Iris came snapping at her nose sending the girl in a fit of rage.

"Stupid bird! I'm going to get rabies now!!! Shit!"

"Calm down!" Vergil exclaimed as he brought both of his arms to hold her still, she had somehow found her way to sit up with out the pain and Vergil was now slowly placing his hand under her chin and tilting her head back in order to view the damage to her nose. It wasn't anything major but still, Arith could be an idiot sometimes- provoking a phoenix.

"Calm down. You aren't bleeding. You shouldn't have-"

There was silence. He could feel her rapid pulse as his hand remained under her chin gently, he could easily tell the different shades of her blush as the seconds passed by and it shocked him to think that for some reason she wasn't the only one. Why has this girl always made him feel awkward- out of place….ashamed? He didn't know what to do, if he removed his hand he would be seen as the weak one yet she never looked away. How he hated those burning red eyes in front of him…

_Marie…_

The torn Devil looked at the innocent girl as her emotions were being depicted through her eyes. She had yet to control the triggering but in time, it would be easier, yet he knew too well what was going through her mind and it made him feel semi proud of his abilities at conquering hearts yet ashamed that history was trying to repeat itself.

"You should rest." He insisted as he moved his hand across her cheek to remove some blood from it ignoring that his own hands and gloves would be dirtied, she was just like her. He was trying to test himself, what emotions would come but for some reason he was so shocked and paranoid he only felt numbness when he touched her. "The others will be back soon and they don't want to see you like this so come on, lay down and-"

"What was she like?"

"Hu?" Vergil stopped his caress over her cheek not having realized that he himself had gotten a bit too close then what he would consider appropriate and he could see her eyes now, they were shinning crimson as she looked at him sadly. The Devil made to move his arm back away from her but the girl took it firmly as if warning him that she was going to get an answer out of him, no matter what. Arith was starring at him sternly ignoring the raised eyebrow and only concentrating on getting a straight answer.

"How was she like?" She repeated coolly even though her tensed up self said otherwise.

Vergil frowned and shuffled uncomfortably on the bed trying to casually gain back the movement to his arms yet Arith kept a firm grip. He had seen this behavior once before- the wrath of a jealous woman. Of all the people in this world, he would have never expected Arith to turn out like this…

"She was…" he began hesitantly not exactly knowing if he should say the the truth or where to begin until he caught sight of the light flowing in through the open window and sighed as he looked outside. "One of a kind."

"Was she nice?"

"She was kind, joked about a few times. No other person in this world was a host then she was. But she had her feisty side." He added with a grin as the open window reminded him of the old days. Arith was smiling now and giggled gently.

"Fiesty? She sounds like me."

This caught his attention and made him turn back to her with a stern look which made her stop grinning. He looked down at the hand she was holding and sighed heavily as he brought his other hand to her cheek oncemore out of randomness and beuase he felt it was the right thing to do.

"No. You shouldn't compare yourself to her."

"Why…why not?" Arith blushed not expecting him to be so…touchy and intimate- Vergil wasn't like this.

"Because although technically you are or were Marie, you aren't the same because of the different times you lived in, the environment and the people around you. For example-"

"I saw you in a vision as the pillars were falling on me…" Arith interrupted now sounded sad and hurt yet she never looked back into Vergil's eyes, she had even moved away from his touch, something that even he was surprised she'd do. His eyes were quickly trying to study her as she tried to move away letting go of his hand and he quickly turned the tables by holding onto her hands in return. She looked up at him nervously and he in return with a questioning glance of curiosity.

"What's the matter Arith? What did you see?"

"Err, I really don't want to talk about it." She said defeated and leaned back on the bed rest sighing heavily as if from a vague memory. Her cheeks has gone a darker tinge of red as Vergil continued to stare concluding only one thing.

"What's wrong?" he asked slightly more gently almost seducing the answer out of her but the abashed girl just eyed him nervously before speaking in a mumble. "I don't want to talk about it, it's nast-….I mean, it's unimportant."

The devil starred at the girl trying not to laugh at the stern face she had gotten. Could Arith have possibly received a vision of Marie's past dealing with him? He somehow didn't feel uncomfortable, in fact, he was enjoying her awkwardness and bashfulness- it was perfect, he would soon have her to his will.

"Let me guess," Vergil casually stated with a shrug as he leaned back, "Something inappropriate. Arith, we were lovers."

"I know, I know!" The girl shrieked nervously as she tried to cover her ears from what he had said, "That's why it makes me sick."

"Sick?" The devil bellowed with spite that made Arith turn to look at him with a nervous glance trying to calm him. She had gone an abnormal shade of pale now as her red eyes starred into his cold blue ones regretting what she had said.

"No Vergil, it's not like that. It's like, how could you two love each other, but like- I really don't want to know right. I really don't want to know that you two slept together and she loved you and you were like her prince in blue armor and-"

"Arith…" Vergil interrupted gently, "I loved her."

There was a long moment of silence as the two looked at each other, Vergil as strict and cold as ever and Arith with a pitying glance. He understood her perfectly well he was reading her like an open book. The girl thought that probably their past selves being so closely related in an emotional sense, probably it would affect how he saw her. The devil looked away from her after a few minutes not exactly sure if what he would say was the truth or not.

I mean, she is freaking 16 years old…

"I'm sorry for your loss."

Arith's voice brought him back to reality as he turned to look at her who was now holding onto his hand gently in condolence, her fingertips barely brushing against his palm. His icy blue eyes looked at her remorsefully something inside of him angry at the fact she wasn't fighting. He took hold of her hand completely catching himself and her off guard as he smiled weakly in a persuasive manner.

"So… what was the vision about?"

Arith glared up at him eyeing there hands uneasily knowing perfectly well he was just trying to get information off of her- the jerk. "Use your imagination." She replied shyly her cheeks slowly gaining a pink tinge making Vergil smirk, the something inside of him began to slowly fill up with pathetic pride. The devil kept tempting.

"You have to be more specific then that. Don't think I understand your-"

"Oh come on Vergil!" Arith hissed angrily slapping his hands away and turning painfully to look away from him in complete disgust and humiliation. Vergil was captured in complete curiosity. He kept looking at her for a few minutes the grin still on his face and finally she turned comeplty heart broken.

"You're a horrible person, you know."

Her face, her voice, the shrug- everything she did reminded him so much of Marie. The childish antics that she possessed- he quickly moved to sit beside her and brought his hand to her cheek gently.

"Get some rest Arith."

He didn't have to say anything, a goodbye wasn't necessary. The two looked at each other again and exchanged silent nods before Vergil stood up and walked to the door. She probably thought that once he walked out of her room he'd be downstairs but he wasn't. He was all ready locking the front door in rage.

It made him question himself sometimes. She, a mere girl, how could she wield so much power when she was nothing but an obsessively deranged teenager? It made him slightly sick to think that she was in some way related to the beautiful woman he had once loved.

_Who are you fooling,_ he thought… _no matter what you do she'll always be…_

No matter how hard he tried to lie to himself, he always found an excuse to come running to her aid- this had to end. She almost died and now her beast was set free, their level of advance was becoming much more to a normal speed.

_Why are you worrying about power, she's more important then power…_

The devil snorted at the thoughts his conscious was trying to persuade him with but the fact stood idle- Vergil's main intent was to use her and nothing more. He wouldn't fail again.

_Have you gone so low as to forget the past? A true man would face his destiny with vigor and pride._

"Silence!" He shouted into the darkness as is thoughts became whole again. His mind was made up, Arith was only a pawn- nowhere near the Queen.

With one last scowl, he disappeared into the darkness leaving the Main St. silent and vacant.

"Dang babe, I've never seen a girl wield guns like that!" Dante's booming cheer's were echoing through the abandoned church as the team marched forward towards the alter where Past present and Future were holding their place conjuring up demons here and there. Kimni had somehow had gotten her fingers on Dante's twin guns and was now experimenting. While Dante took the back, Aranell and Ayame took out the demons coming from the side while Kimni took them out before they hit the floor.

Her green eyes darted from a decaying body in front of her to the ceiling from where the corpse had fallen and quickly brought the guns to aim at a demon, mouth gaping and ready to jump.

"Too late."

Her hands jerked backwards as a pair of bullets went flying through the air ripping through decaying flesh and bone- right on the head. The corpse leaned backwards and began falling landing with a thump on the ground below. It slowly began to turn into sand as a gust of wind blew it away and Aranell advanced her short swords blazing with speed as she ripped through the flesh of a nearby demon and bringing her hand with a swift movement away from her and making the demon crush against the stone wall. From her peripheral view, the shinning glow of a bloody scythe caught her attention and she quickly moved to deflect it, her short sword clashing powerfully that it sent the Demon flying backwards.

"You're not getting away that easily!"

She rolled sideways and stood beside one of the many benches for the people and kicked it sending it crashing against the next horde of demons that were coming. They became nothing but a pile of sand pinned to a wall.

"How you holding up, Ayame!?" Aranell called out as she brushed off her coat rather pompously as another demon tried to slice her with an upper cut and she deflected it cutting it in two with her other hand. Ayame was in the middle of her battle as demons came running towards her. The blond wasn't exactly that fatigued, in fact, out of all the girls it was she who seemed to be the most advanced in controlling her powers. Her sword remained unsheathed, her breathing was steady, her face seemed blank, and the death toll was steadily rising thanks to her. Ayame was standing quite calmly looking at her surroundings taking in the scenario. The place was filled with water.

The old abandoned church had wholes in its roof and everything; the stones and the wooden architecture and benches, were reeking with dampness which Ayame found as an advantage. The floor itself was able to be manipulated. As the horde of demons came raging and growling towards her she quickly brought her hands high and brought them downward with a quick movement as the mirrors on the ceiling began melt sending wave after wave of water. Once the demons were drenched, a bit of work and Ayame had them frozen in place- the whole right side of the place looked like an ice museum.

"Pretty well actually, you'll never believe what I just learned from this experience." She called out happily as she pushed on of the demons mockingly in order for it to crash into pieces and slow down the other demons.

Dante on the other hand was having the time of his life both with a shotgun on his hand and his trusted Rebellion. Once in a while he tossed Kimni a glance in order to bask in her glorious beauty- literally. There was something about the way she scrunched up her nose in concentration, cringed slightly at the sound of a gunshot and jumped on the balls of her feet in victory after a target was eliminated.

_Anything for you babe, _He thought to himself as he wiped about grabbing a demon by it's neck and shoving the double barrel of his shotgun into it's through before pulling the trigger, he liked it rough.

They had advanced to the front of the church where the Trio found themselves in shock.

Future was running out of ideas, nothing made sense anymore- they were supposed to be dead by now! The mere fact that they had survived the encounter at the nursing home was bad enough but now- this was just shameful.

"What the hell are we going to do; they keep killing everything we send at them!" Past shouted in rage reproachfully. Future caught the look in Past's eyes and knew exactly how he felt.

The demons are no use against the guard… all of this was pointless then…

This couldn't be, now that the trio had access to hell, it seemed that nothing would work out. The girls were too powerful for minions and the Trio was too exhausted to actually fight, their only option was to make a run for it.

"We need to get out of here, out of sight…" Future began to explain as he glared at the guard angrily not helping but to look at Aranell whom to his surprise was much more talented then he had perceived. "We have to get out of-"

"Man I am sick and tired of running!" Past shouted angrily turning to face Future squarely showing rage and malice. "Why can't we just kill these bitches?!"

"Oh yes retard," Present exclaimed bringing his hand to smack Past in the back of the head. "We can't take them on right now, we spent to much power on trying to keep the illusions at work back at the nursery home!"

"Well fuck running, I don't want to run!" Past kept pestering looking at future as if it was his fault while Future glared back. "You know Future, you're a real son of a-"

"Hey ladies!"

The Trio turned slowly towards Dante's voice- everything was calm. The church was a mess but every demn had been exterminated. Dante Kimni and Aranell were breathing rather heavily yet everyone held the same pacified smirk at the shocked faces of the three.

"Quit your bitchin', you all are going to die anyway!" Aranell called out gently as Kimni made her hand into a fist. At once, the ground beneath the Trio lifted up making them fall backwards and slide downhill to the groups feet. Before they could do anything, the trio found them selves frozen to the floor as thick strips of water came flowing from the marbled floor and freezing their arms and legs in place in order to keep them from moving. Just in case, both Dante and Kimni were aiming their guns at them.

"Oh boy does it suck being you." Dante mocked as he pressed the shotguns barrel against Future's cheek keeping him from talking. The other girls made their own tauntings.

"Give us a reason not to kill you." Aranell grumbled as she brought her boot into Past's side making him scream in pain.

"Gah you crazy bitch, what was that for!?"

Aranell kicked him again. "The first was for Arith. The second was for calling my a bitch and this one." She kicked him again a bit harder making Past gag as he tried to catch his breath. "Is for me."

Future had his head pressed to the cold floor as Dante kept pushing until he finally stopped. He brought his gaze to look at Dante in the eyes with rage.

"It's no use, the door to hell is open." He gasped as desperation and anxiety began to take over but Dante remained unmoved. On the contraire, he was having the time of his life.

"Well that just means we're going to have to close that gate then. It still doesn't mean we won't kill you. Lock and load babe."

Kimni looked at Dante nervously as she placed her finger on the trigger pointing one gun at Past and the other on Present. This part was the hard one, she couldn't a person?!

"You can do it chick." Aranell said quietly cheering her on while Ayame smiled in silence, she understood what Kimni was going through.

"You want to make sure you shoot them in the head, like that we won't have the problem that they didn't die-"

"I know that." Kimni said through gritted teeth as she tried to steady her hand in order to aim right. The clash of ethical and logical bases was raging war against each other as the pleading eyes from both Past and Present made her want to put the gun down.

Dante on the other hand wasn't going to let her bail out on this, especially when they were this close to victory. With one hand staying steady on his target beneath him, he placed his free hand on Kimni shoulder feeling her quivering.

"We do this together. We'll end the living streak of these sons of bitches, got it?"

Kimni said nothing but nodded loading the guns simultaneously as Past and Present began to squirm and shout in rage. Their threats were falling into deaf ears, the guard was silent. Kimni stood there waiting for the countdown ignoring the cries of the enemy, the only one that wasn't squirming was Future, and by the looks of it, he seemed very sure that this would not work.

"What are you grinning about?" Dante said through gritted teach as Future looked up at him coolly only saying "Don't underestimate the Gods of time." Before Dante shouted out three and three shots was given out.

It was an ominous silence as everyone held their breath. Kimni had shut her eyes at the point of shooting and slowly opened them again, feeling her hands numb. After a while, the reality sank in.

The trio was untouched.

Dante at once looked around trying to see what had interfered with the execution and at once his question was answered. A shower of summoning swords came crashing about them making the group flee towards safety behind a pillar.

"What the hell was that!?" Ayame shrieked as she squeezed in close to the group, Dante was holding them all against him in order to keep them from getting hit by the summoning swords.

"That idiot of Vergil, what the hell does he think he's doing?!" Dante growled as he tried to look over the edge of the pillar but a summoning sword came crashing within inches of his face that had it not been for Kimni, he would have been out of commission for a few hours.

"Wait, what do you mean Vergil?" Kimni shrieked as she pulled Dante back behind the safety of the pillar blushing spontaneously at their closeness and the stare he was giving her. "I thought he promised to stay with Arith?!"

It wasn't after a few minutes of the truth sinking in that Dante finally felt that the girls believed him when he said Vergil was a bad guy.

"That's my brother ladies and gentlemen." Dante said through gritted teeth as he moved out of the way grabbing his guns from Kimni before raging out towards the hall only to find the church empty. The trio was gone.

The guard slowly moved out entering into the same hallway where Dante stood defeated and enraged, a slight red aura surrounding him. The girls looked at each other before Kimni dared to move towards Dante who was slowly turning into some kind of demon. With all the courage she had left, the green haired girl stretched out her arm and took hold of his arm.

"I actually believed him…" The demon said slowly as the red aura began to fade, the arm in Kimni's was that of a normal being. Both Ayame and Aranell moved forward and patted his back sympathetically.

"Don't worry, he fooled us all." Aranell stated bluntly glaring up at the alter where they had almost defeated them.

"Yeah, we tried." Ayame said actually surprised as she looked about her blue hair flailing with the slow breeze.

"Let's go home." Kimni beckoned as the group began to move, Dante leading the way, his eyes shadowed as he kept his head down. No one was talking perhaps out of exhaustion or serious disappointment. One thing was for sure, they all made up their minds into wanting to get home as quickly as they could because of Arith, she was the important one at the moment. The minute they stepped outside, the cold fresh breeze of the night felt like a stranger stinging their faces.

"And you know the worst part about this is?" Ayame called out as the church bell began to rang signaling midnight. "We have school tomorrow…"


	21. Chapter 21 Code: Demon Days

**Chapter 21**

[Code: Demon Days

----------------------------------------------------

"Open wide!"

"Dante…"

"Come on a little wider!" 

"Dante, this isn't necessary-"

"If you don't open up, I'm forcing it in."

"DANTE!" A spoonful of porridge was thrust into Arith's mouth making her almost gag; Dante's touch was far from gentle. The rest of the girls were standing by the door not bothering to suppress their laughter as they saw Dante torturing the poor girl. Arith had gotten sick even after taking the beating from the other night, the girls liked to call it AIDS. Dante had never experienced 'sickness' so he took great curiosity with Arith- not to mention she was so prone of getting into danger it made him worry if Death himself was trying to claim her. He had made Ayame cook some porridge up for Arith and was determined to feed her not letting her move at all.

As Arith chewed away she glared at the other girls, her eyes going red temporarily. 

"There you go, wasn't that simple now?" Dante grinned bringing his hand with a napkin to wipe her mouth but Arith wasn't putting up with this anymore. She shrieked and slapped Dante hand away angrily taking hold of the bowl demonstrating to Dante that she was more then capable of feeding herself.

"Look, see? I can move my arms pretty good now; I don't need you to feed me. "

"Now, now, princess." Dante mocked pulling the bowl back into his possession ignoring the sad efforts Arith was doing in her favor. "You're sick, I don't want you to get too sick, and we need to get to training. Look, even Iris is worried."

Right on cue, Iris came flying up towards the bed holding a pack of Advil's and landed beside Arith looking up at her nervously. The girl petted her gently and finally leaned back towards the bed rest and glared at her friends who were still laughing.

"Don't you all have something to do?" She growled crossing her arms as Dante began to do the airplane with another spoonful of porridge. They weren't helping.

"Actually, we're off for school. Good luck Arith." Aranell called deviously as she led the way out of the room with Ayame on her heels, but Kimni stayed behind looking at Arith's pained look and Dante's childish antics in trying to pamper her. 

"Don't make a fool of yourself, Dante…" She called out before winking her good lucks at Arith who was finally giving up in fighting Dante. Her mind went off following them as they walked down the stairs and out the door leaving her with Dante. It sucked horribly…

"Come on Arith, why the sad face, you aren't going to school!" Dante hollered excitedly taking advantage of the moment when she opened her mouth to speak and shoved in another mouthful making her gag.

"It'll be fun. You can stay in bed if you like, and if the pains come back or the congestion, we'll get high on ibiprophin!"

"Ibiprophen is an anti-inflammatory Dante… it doesn't cure the flu, or whatever the hell I have…" The girl said after finally clearing out her throat.

"Sure it does, its medicine isn't it?" 

Another groan and yet another mouthful and Arith finally fell under the covers coughing away and sniffing like crazy. Dante sat beside her on the bed and looked down at her with a weak smile. She didn't know it but he was returning all the care she had once given him in recovering so long ago…

Even now as she laid there huddled up in her own grief's as he once had been in the old days, he felt it was his duty to bring her back to health. The girl jumbled up into a ball under her covers and Dante immediately moved forward.

"You know," He began quietly moving the porridge here and there before taking a mouthful himself, "This reminds me of a long time ago in a land very far away."

"Let me guess." She muttered in a raspy voice, "You're going to tell me the whole Star Wars story. Too late Dante, It's a old and told tale."

"No, no, no!" Dante laughed taking another mouthful before lying beside the small bundle in the blankets leaning on his elbow comfortably, looking off into a blank spot in the ceiling in reminiscence. "When I first met Marie, I was in your position."

"Dante-" she began to whine not wanting to hear about any past life she once had… it was rather depressing but Dante hushed her by placing his forehead on a lump he felt to be her side.

"It's all right. Felicia was trying to teach you how to heal. It ain't an easy task for yah, you know."

"Why's that?" the covers spoke in hidden curiosity.

"Well, fire isn't exactly the all nurturing type." He stated bluntly pondering on the subject, "it's more of a universal destroyer."

"Joy."

"But come on, think of this as a way of repaying your attention back then. I'll take care of yah babe, just hang in there."

There was no reply underneath the covers, only an uncomfortable shift of position.

"Are you cold?"

"No… I'm fine." She giggled as Dante placed a hand on her side; he was really making her seem like some baby.

"I think its cold in here."

"No, it's okay."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Just to make sure…" Dante got up and looked around for anything to cover her with as a second layer and failed in vain- not even the closet seemed to be of any use… except-

"Here." Dante mumbled as he spread an old trench coat he had hanging around in the closet. He neatly spread it covering the whole ball that Arith had some how formed under the covers and smirked proudly. "That thing will keep your warm no matter what."

He stood there with his arms crossed over his chest waiting for a thank you but it never came. The ball was not moving except for a rhythmic rise and fall here and there. Dante moved toward the bed and slowly raised the covers to see her face- she had fallen asleep. Iris came flopping on the bed beside her and leaned down to look through the gap Dante had created before looking up at Dante with beady eyes.

"She's sleeping. I'll let her sleep."

He brought the covers back down to how they were before and walked towards the door where Sprout and Talon were making their way into the room. He stood by the doorway as Iris flew down to meet them chirping excitedly before they all moved onto the bed. Sprout had amazingly made his way inside the blankets while Talon curled up beside the ball and laid there. Iris was perched on the mount, glowing a gentle orange.

_So…_ Dante thought with a smile, _they are doing their share to heal her._

He left the door open and walked on down the hall eating the porridge that Arith had left behind letting 'nature' do its job.

--------------------------------

School wasn't exactly interesting since the girls were thinking of everything but school- Arith at home sick, the Trio pulling that scam off, the level of strength they were in, why nobody in New Jersey questioned the nursery home catching on fire…. it was devastating to think that maybe, just maybe, they could have lost Arith. Aranell was off doodling on her piece of math paper. Instead of drawing what a squared function would look like she was making up various ways into decapitating Vergil.

A few seats to her right there sat a gloomy young man. His shoulders were hunched forward as he himself leaned over the desk doodling on his own sheet of paper. Unlike Aranell, it wasn't hatred that he was bestowing on the drawing he was making, on the contraire; he was slowly and delicately doing the outline of an eye as he brushed his pencil smoothly on the paper. 

Drawing came easy to Michael, it was his favorite past time- especially when he had all the time in the world- such a sad and tragic truth.

The black haired teen sat up straight in order to look at his masterpiece, an allusion of his mind. Once more, he found himself feeling the same ache in the emptiness that consumed him.

The drawing on his paper was that of a woman. There was nothing special about her, it was drawn like an expert, but Michael kept feeling the same awkwardness about her- the way her hair was curled into perfect locks, the uncolored eyes that in his dreams glowed bright purple, the smoothness of that skin that a mere pencil could not come close in portraying. Who was she, why was she driving him mad?

Instantly, he looked up and tilted his head in the direction of Aranell whom to his surprise was looking back. The two kept their eyes locked for what seemed ages before they actually realized what was happening.

Aranell turned back to her paper as she glanced briefly at the teacher. The monotone voice coming from the front of the class didn't help in calming her embarrassment, it made it seem that all eyes were on them in that particular moment. She knew that guy.

The only time she ever saw him was during lunch time back at the private school not here at the community college. She nervously brought her left hand over to move the hair from her face now conscious of her actions. Little did she know that three seats away from her Michael sat grinning slightly.

"Psst!" 

Kimni's pencil came stabbing Aranell on the back making the girl jump. "Stop flirting." Kimni mocked as she beckoned towards the board where the teacher had begun to write problems due at the end of the period.

"I wasn't doing anything…" Aranell bitterly replied as she crumbled her sheet of paper with stick figures into a ball noisily.

Michael remained pleased as he looked down at the drawing before him. He knew perfectly well who she was. He stealthily stole a glance at Aranell before confirming his hypothesis. They were completely alike her and the woman in his drawing. It always bothered him that the girl he was infatuated by was his own enemy.

But no one would ever know that.

After a few minutes of comparison he finally settled down as the teacher issued a pop quiz.

--------------------------------------------

Back home, Dante was taking this opportunity to reminisce on the occurrences of the past night. He hadn't exactly slept well. The memory of his brother so falsely counting himself responsible for someone that even Dante thought Vergil actually cared for made anger rise to his throat giving him the sensation of spitting out endless curses.

According to Arith, he was still there when she went to sleep. She seemed completely heart broken when Dante told her what happened- to the point that she didn't believe him. The girl actually got mad and said Dante was just making stuff up- honestly, when it was Dante who actually had good intentions!

_Is this what you want Vergil_, he thought as he slumped down completely exhausted on the living room couch, _do you really want to destroy her like you did Marie?_

As if on cue, the half demons ears perked as the nonstop gagging and coughing from upstairs made him stand up tensely in the living room holding his breath until it became silent again.

And then the coughing began.

Dante was upstairs before Arith could begin her second coughing fit as he ran into her room pretty much slamming the door open, completely paranoid that perhaps she had gotten even worse.

Unfortunately for Arith and to Dante's surprise, she had been changing and gotten a sneezing fit. The minute Dante ran into the bedroom Arith's shrieks of shock were muffled by Iris's screeching as she exploded into the giant looking bird that had rushed out of the rubble a few days ago covering Arith from Dante's view. Sprout lunged at Dante making him fall backwards pinning him to the ground as Arith's bedroom door went shut with a gust of wind.

Dante was dazed there on the floor with Sprout angrily pounding miniature balls of vines on his chest and covering his eyes. Inside the bedroom there was cursing and fumbling as Arith moved about trying to get dressed quickly before walking out her door and slamming her fist on Dante's bare chest in complete outrage.

"How could you?! You demented pervert, I should kick your ass!!" the girl glared angrily as her eyes began to glow red while Dante stood there with sprout on his head eying the fist on his bare chest admirably.

"I knew you were hot after all…" he said proudly as he took her fist into his hand and pressed her against his chest practically suffocating her as she tried to squirm away from his grip gasping at the smell of old spice tickling her nostrils. Dante on the other hand was ignoring the fact that Sprout was trying to attack him while Arith became weak in his arms.

"Arith?" He said rather provocative amazed she would break that easily, he hadn't done anything- this was quite flattering.

"I can't breathe…" The girl gasped and Dante let her go completely hurt before Arith started a coughing fit. Dante was freaking out seeing her face go all red so he did the first thing that came to his head, he slapped her back unconscious that perhaps he had hit to hard and she went flying towards the wall with an awkward gurgling sound as she fell to the floor gasping for breath.

"Oh shit…" Dante blinked nervously as he made his way to where she sat and soothed her shoulders nervously not finding anything else to do before she finally coughed a bit and exhaled heavily yet relieved.

"I'm sorry princess…" Dante said slowly rubbing her back gently in order to calm her down but Arith broke into a laughing fit leaning on him gently as she tried to steady her breathing.

"God damn you're rough…" She said as her voice sounded rather raspy, her eyes were drooping down but she seemed to find comfort in Dante's warmth. "That actually felt good…"

"You sure you're okay? I heard you coughing and I thought perhaps you were choking and-"

"I was…" she said nervously showing him her napkin which was littered with blood specs, he turned to look at her seriously taking coughing up blood was actually bad.

"Don't worry, it's not TB." She said too calmly for Dante's taste as she took the napkin back and stuffed it in a pocket of one of his trench coats she was wearing. "I'm guessing my throat is acting up again, it can explain the numbness."

"Man babe, you're really making me want to take you to the hospital or something." Dante said bewildered. He had never experienced sickness. Perhaps allergies but never sickness. He pressed his hand on her shivering head- she was very warm- and realized Arith was shivering from warmth. The girl only smiled and waved him away as she got to her feet.

"Ugh, I've been worse. That's what I get for having large tonsils…"

"Want me to carry you to your room?" the smooth talking devil added with a grin but Arith just sighed irritated.

"Take me downstairs you pervert. I want to watch TV. Perhaps I'll forgive you then…"

"Babe, I can so win my forgiveness back, just ask." He mocked giving her one of his grins as he scooped her up in his arms walking towards the stairs. Arith only giggled as the two disappeared downstairs. 

----- ------ ------ ----

"You know, I can't wait for the Christmas vacation. All of these pop quizzes and tests are driving me mad." Kimni was saying as the three girls made their way downstairs and towards home. They had finished their classes at the college and it was time to leave. To their surprise, the weather had changed from a normal cool day to the beginning of fall. The sky was ominously grey as the girls entered the large courtyard taking a few seconds to take in this change in scenery.

"Well… can you believe this…" Ayame muttered under her breath looking around at the place with a smile. "Our first Christmas in New Jersey…"

"I don't think it's anything to be happy about you know." Kimni muttered as she pulled her light sweater about her, she actually missed her home- the parties, the reunions, the family in general. " Dante's pretty much going to have us training through the whole vacation. Not to mention we still have to endure thanksgiving…" 

"Oh no… thanksgiving…"

"I'm sure he won't even get us any food."

"What?! But… we can cook it!"

"Ugh, please. He probably doesn't celebrate it. I don't want to get him in an argument."

"Damn Kimni, you are sure vouching out for him, you know." Aranell interrupted Kimni and Ayame's conversation with a questioning grin that even made Ayame turn in amazement at her. The poor girl looked at the two accusingly with a blush not liking to be the spot light.

"What are you talking about?" Kimni questioned ever so gingerly knowing she'd regret whatever was coming when Aranell made her way right in front of her stopping Kimni in her tracks and pointing at her accusingly.

"Give it up, you got the hots for Dante."

"WHAT?!" Kimni hissed slapping her hand away from her face before looking around nervously hoping Dante wasn't hiding behind some tree or trashcan eavesdropping on the conversation before she turned and glared at Aranell's little sense of humor. "You know perfectly well that isn't true. Why would I like him, he's not even on the same page age wise."

"Now, now, Kimni. You know Age doesn't matter when it comes to love." Ayame mocked doing a little dance that reminded Kimni of a leprechaun.

"Yeah, you're always protecting him and he can't keep his hands off of you." Aranell muttered shaking her head in shame ignoring the redness of Kimni's face as she stuttered to protest but nothing came out, she wasn't sure if this accusations were real or not because to tell you the truth- she had no clue this was true.

"He keeps looking at you all the time, I freak out when I can't see his hands if you know what I mean…" Aranell went on as she gesticulated away but her voice was drowned under the sound of Kimni's thoughts as she tried to think.

So what, Dante had a little soft spot for her but it wasn't that major- why did they make it seem like if it was such a big thing. Not even a night ago Ayame and Aranell had told her the same thing but she hadn't paid attention to it- she was too tired. Now that the accusations sprouted up again Kimni couldn't help but feel bothered. Was something happening that she was too blind to see?

Off from a corner of Aranell's view she saw the school doors open and a lone figure stepped out as her breath was caught in her throat leaving her speechless. The brown haired wonder was making his way towards them his eyes fixed on Aranell as he shot her a weak smile before Aranell returned to the conversation acting as if nothing happened but Ayame and Kimni were already looking behind them at the incoming boy.

Michael felt like a complete idiot. Who was he fooling; he didn't have the guts to talk to a girl- especially when she was considered an enemy. It felt as if the eyes of both Ayame and Kimni were drilling into his skull and he didn't dare keep eye contact for long since he worried they would notice something familiar to his other alias- Future. He kept walking forward until he finally reached their little group and stopped smiling weakly at everyone receiving nothing but blank stares and raised eye brows before Aranell spoke rather cheerfully from in front of him.

"Can we help you?"

"Err…" he muttered nervously before heaving a sigh and looking at them rather bluntly, " I remembered your faces from the private school down main street." He muttered and to his relief Kimni and Ayame nodded before beckoning him to walk on with them as Aranell took a place beside him smiling weakly and looking at him not forgetting their little 'moment'.

"Yeah, we remember you too."

"How can she forget…" muttered Kimni under her breath making Ayame laugh as Aranell glared at her murderously making Michael smirk.

"I notice you are missing one of your friends, does she not take classes here too?" He asked wryly as Aranell turned her head making her curls fly about her flirtatiously nodding happily.

"You mean Arith? She's sick today but she does come to school with us."

"Arith…" Michael repeated curiously wondering if Arith was defeated or not, the girls didn't seem as if they were mourning so he figured Arith must have gotten out of her little troubles safely- damn.

"Yeah, she's Arith, the blond one is Ayame and the midget is Kimni." Aranell mocked before Kimni protested at her with a questioning look.

"Last time I checked I was much taller then you."

Ayme broke into hysterical laughter again as Aranell turned back to the guy and smiles brushing away Kimni's comment as she went on.

"I'm Aranell."

"I'm Michael, nice to meet you all." He replied and nodded his greetings before it went quiet again. Something inside of him told him this was bad- he shouldn't be with the enemy- what would the others think?

The four were walking now in silence when Ayame stopped dead on her tracks and gasped making everyone else turn.

"Darn, we need to go buy those patches Dante was complaining about!" the blond muttered as she began rummaging through her pockets disappointedly taking out a lonesome twenty dollar bill. "He says it'll make the soreness go away."

"No, the jerk probably wants us to wear those so we won't complain once he works our asses off like-"

"SSHHH"

The three girls turned to Michael who was looking at them rather curiously knowing perfectly well what was going on- they were starting to train. The walking commenced and finally Aranell turned to Michael with a smile.

"Which way do you live?"

"Down 2nd street right off Parkway Boulevard," He answered back quickly knowing perfectly well that it wasn't true. How could he tell them he lived in an abandoned church a few blocks down the Devil May Cry Agency? "There's a convenience store around there where you can find those heat-patches, my err… brother tends to go buy them there since he's in …. Football."

"2nd street sounds pretty far though and I really wanted to get home and-"

"Then I'll go, just give me the money." Aranell interrupted with a confident tone as both Kimni and Ayame turned from her to Michael knowing perfectly well what she was up to- they didn't like the idea.

"Don't you want to see how Arith is doing?" Kimni insisted ignoring the imploring look Michael was giving her, "we can just tell Dante to go and get them."

"Dante is lazier then us so I'll just go by myself. You go ahead and get something ready for when I get home. I'm craving Spaghetti."

Both Ayame and Kimni ran out of things to use against her leaving and finally- with a stubborn and hesitant action- gave her the money and turned around in the direction of home looking rather defeated. Michael stood beside Aranell as she waved good-by at the two girls while in return only raised their hands in a weak and nervous wave before they turned the corner and headed down Main Street.

"Well," Michael broke the silence as he cleared out his throat fixing his coat around him for the walk home, "I suppose I should-"

"Walk me to the pharmacy?" Aranell butted in with a smile. Perhaps it was the abashed face Michael was giving her or maybe the fact that he had turned bright red that mad her smirk, he laughed gently and finally gave up as he followed along beside her.

Aranell hadn't exactly been on this side of town during the daylight. From what she remembered a few nights ago, this had all seemed so ominous and deadly- every shadow and crevice seemed to hold an enemy. In the light of day it was a bustling mini market place. There were people walking here and there, groceries putting fruits on fruit stands outside their stores and a few children here and there running about celebrating the incoming holidays.

He wasn't exactly into romantics and he didn't know what to say, it seemed that the silence between the two seemed to say so much. When one would look at some incredible sight- may it be a bird perched on a tree, the two would look at each other and smile. There was something so innocent yet so forbidden from just walking down the street together that it made him feel uneasy.

"You okay? You look like you're getting sick." Arenell's voice broke through the silence as she eyed him worryingly as they entered the little pharmacy. He held the door open and assured her with a smile.

---------------------------------------------

"Is she insane? She's flirting with some guy she doesn't even know…"

"I think that's how people start, you know? You meet someone you don't know and start to know them. I think that's what dating is all about Kimni."

"That's not what I mean." Kimni grumbled angrily as she walked beside Ayame who was happily humming here and there and waving at people who passed. She seemed to find their reactions to this very interesting. Paranoid city people…

"I mean," Kimni began after a few moments of silence as an old lady patted the top of Sarah's head and passed her a candy when she had waved at her, "I understand that with her good looks, getting guy's attention is simple but come on- on of her best friend's almost died and she prefers to go flirt with some guy she'll never get far with? It's being selfish."

"I think its love." Ayame hummed as she scrutinized the butterscotch candy in her hand before throwing it over her shoulder not trusting it to not be spiked or something, "let her do what she want. It's not like Arith is dying or anything."

"Let her do what she wants? She criticizes me like if I liked Dante or something but there she goes flirting with some random guy- what am I suppose to think?" Kimni exclaimed her patience running out as she turned to watch Ayame receive a pat on the back by a young woman who hurried her child beside her to walk on.

"By nice lady!" the child called out as he opened and closed his hands bidding Ayame his farewell's before she turned around to see Kimni glaring at her impatiently. Ayame couldn't think of anything to say so she simply lifted her right hand and waved- Kimni slapped it down and kept walking angrily.

"Never mind." The girl muttered as she strived to get home faster but Ayame caught up and stopped her shaking her head disapprovingly.

"Okay, so she ditched us- big deal? Somewhere in our hearts we both know we would have also done such a thing- no don't interrupt."

Kimni had begun to open her mouth to protest but she quickly closed it and pouted as Ayame continued.

"Let her do what she wants- she has all the right to go out with the guy if she wants, she's the one that gets hurt in the end and not us. We're her friends so we can give her advice. You can tell her to forget him but hey, she won't listen to you- especially since the fact that we're leaving once everything is done with won't stop her. Let her go on with it, it's none of our concerns-"

"But-"

"It's none of our concern." Ayame repeated with a definite tone signifying that the conversation was over. Kimni sighed and turned back towards the road as they began to catch a glimpse of the DMCA.

----------------------------------------------

"The Valley sounds very interesting." Michael muttered as he plopped another chip into his mouth eyeing Aranell curiously as she talked on.

"It's not interesting, things just don't happen all the time there. It's a good place to live but not much excitement going on." The girl went on with a pensive tone as memories of her old home came flying into her memory. "Compared to New Jersey, it's very different."

"I can imagine."

Michael had decided to walk her home in order to keep the other two from finding out what he was up to. He knew that he could not walk into the DMCA without Dante finding him out- unlike the girls demons have their way of knowing. They were crossing the intersection to main street now as the DMCA came into view.

"Is that where you live?" He asked faking a curious tone.

"Err, yeah. We're here with a friend of ours." She quickly justified with an nervous laugh which made her feel that Michael wasn't buying it. It didn't matter, she couldn't exactly tell him that they lived with a half demon or something. At that moment, someone who both of them would have given anything to not see arrived discreetly and to their misfortune, grinning. Aranell was the first to see him as he walked down the street rather pompously holding his head high and his strut long. She threw him a glare as he moved over to their little group surprised to see the two.

"Afternoon Aranell." Vergil's cold and smooth voice called out as he eyed her suspiciously along with the boy beside her. "Aren't you supposed to be at home?"

"That was exactly where I was heading actually. Thanks for stating the obvious Vergil."

The devil's eyes turned to the boy whom had yet to turn his face to look at him, he was taken back by pure curiosity even though he could smell the familiar cowardice of the individual. "And who is this?" He asked temptingly like some snake.

To his surprise, the boy turned. He was standing face to face with no one other then Future. Their eyes met as Future glared at Vergil not to give him away knowing very well that the smile upon the devils face didn't come from any warm feelings but of knowing there was weakness to the all powerful trio leader.

"Michael. Friend from school. Didn't catch who you were…" Future replied rather stiffly as he extended a hand to shake Vergil's gripping it as hard as Vergil was not falling back.

"Well I'm-"

"Arith's boyfriend."

Both men turned to Aranell in shock as she stood there smiling away happy to cause Vergil some grief. She was finding great pleasure in starring at his traumatized face as if something ugly had just passed in front of him while Michael had begun to grin letting go of Vergil's arm.

"I didn't know Arith had a boyfriend." Michael moved on to assure this theory. If it was true, then something really serious was in play here. Dante was either truly in love with some girl or he was just really good at getting what he wanted- which hopefully that was the case.

"Yeah, we're just not proud of that so we keep it on a down note."

"Thank you for being honest." Vergil muttered sarcastically annoyed at Aranell's grinning and mischievous face. "Shouldn't you be going home? It would make Arith better if her friends were there to show her moral support."

"And it would be great," she interrupted crossing her hands across her chest, "if her boyfriend was there to show her some love."

Michael laughed at this not being able to contain himself as Vergil went paler then usual his hand twitching to kill her on the spot, "She's got a point there." Michael agreed giving him a mocking look before Vergil turned rubbing his neck.

"I need to… buy her flowers…"

Both Aranell and Michael broke down in awe's making Vergil red in the face out of anger until Aranell finally beckoned to leave.

"I suppose I'm off. Thanks for the walk Michael, I guess…. I guess I'll see you at school."

"Of course."

The two exchanged glances and a smile before Arnaell turned and began walking down the street towards the DMCA disappearing into the crowd of people heading home. Time itself stopped as Michael stood there watching her silhouette disappear. Years of dreams of a girl that looked exactly like her came looming into his mind making his chest ache. A part of him didn't want her to leave thinking that perhaps she would never return. There was something there, something around him- like a darkness infinite and immense- that would take her away… everything he ever wanted. Michael reached out to follow her as a hand gripped his shoulder hard pulling him back.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Vergil spoke breaking Michael from his little trans as he turned to look at the devil himself. There was no emotion in his blank stare but his eyes were cunningly showing interest in what had just happened. Future didn't like it.

"Something tells me you were not on a recon mission." He mocked folding his arms triumphantly in front of him while Future just glared up at him utterly annoyed.

"Aren't you supposed to be buying your little girlfriend some flowers or something?"

"I would have gladly bought her flowers to dress her grave had a trio done their job."

Future eyed him curiously, was he faking it? He was aware that just like him there had been some history in their past lives between someone from the elemental guard. Could it have been Arith's past selves? Did he really want her dead?

"Such harsh words from the very man that tipped them off of our doing, we hadn't fully opened the gateway to hell yet." The young man muttered angrily as he began to walk towards home, Vergil walking beside him.

"I thought that perhaps if I told one of them, they would act like the hero- a simple kill for the trio." Vergil explained as his eyes darkened in concentration and seriousness. "Arith was supposed to die that day…"

"Don't lie to me." Michael interrupted stopping on his tracks and looking up at him now businesslike. "Dante knew where to find us and how to seal it. He knew perfectly well that we were there and what we were up to. If he took the guardians then he knows that only they can destroy us. The only person who knew was you…"

"You are mistaken there. Dante knew that the guards are the only ones who could destroy you. Do you not remember your own death?"

Michael froze glaring up at the man not being able to look through his deceit. According to Vergil, he was the only eye witness to his murder. Him asking Michael if he remembered his death was rhetorical- of course he didn't. It seemed the devil had caught sight of this and began to weave his plot of manipulation.

"You know," he began with a tone of heavy deception, "There is a reason why fire is considered the overall element of destruction…"

"What about the others?" Micheal continued not wanting to even start on the complicatedness of elements.

"Every element has their own special characteristic of course. Earth with its grandiose strength and power of healing to waters ever changing yet manageable strengths and wind…"

Michael was starring at Vergil curiously as if his words were that of a prophetic soul stating the apocalypse.

"Well, you know her better then I do, don't you." He muttered with a mocking grin rubbing his chin pompously making Michael cower in his own shame and fear. "A bit too well if you ask me-"

"History won't repeat itself Vergil. You best remember that." Future threatened with an impatient shake of his head while Vergil remained silent only grinning evilly. It was times like these Future wished he had never met him.


End file.
